The fire that never should have happened: Peter Grenier’s WUSA9 interview on the fire that killed nine-year-old Yafet Solomen, GLG client.

Click here to see the WUSA9 interview of Peter Grenier discussing the tragic fire at an unlicensed DC boarding house that killed GLG client nine-year-old Yafet Solomen and Fitsum Kebede, a neighbor babysitting him at the time. The District of Columbia denies responsibility for the deaths, despite the information contained in an October 2019 report showing that an MPD officer noticed the unsafe conditions five months before the fire, and sent 22 emails to D.C. Fire and the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (“DCRA”). When DCRA finally sent an investigator to the house, he said he could not get in. After only 3 attempts to enter the building, the investigator’s supervisors closed the case, just weeks before the fire.

“He had thermal burns in his upper airway. He breathed in such hot air, that it deprived him of his ability to breathe,” said Attorney Grenier about Yafet. “It was so avoidable. I mean, just, it’s disgusting to even think about if anyone had done maybe half their job or a quarter of their job then this would not have happened.”

In the interview, Attorney Grenier asserted that the DC government is largely responsible for this tragedy: “We believe that there is equal culpability with the District of Columbia because they had obligations, there’s a reason why these laws exist, a reason why these regulations exist.”

Attorney Grenier and Grenier Law Group are committed to holding governments and landlords responsible for the deadly consequences of their failures. His team will continue to fight for justice for the Solomen family.