A home on Montreal Street in Kingston is surrounded by barriers and caution tape following a fire that killed two people on March 30,2023.
Internal emails and reports obtained by CBC show the blaze at 895 Montreal St. sparked inspections that found dozens of building and fire code violations at properties belonging to Paul Dadiala and his family.The house at 895 Montreal St. in Kingston, Ont., is surrounded by barriers and caution tape following a fire that killed two people on March 30, 2023. All that remains is a vacant lot in Kingston, Ont., where an abandoned swing set sits rusting in the rain.
Internal emails and reports obtained by CBC through freedom of information requests show the blaze led to a blitz of inspections that found dozens of building and fire code violations at other homes belonging to Dadiala and his family. Among the provincial offences Dadiala faces in relation to 895 Montreal St. are two charges for failing to provide portable fire extinguishers, and one count each for failing to ensure smoke alarms were installed in all sleeping rooms or that a carbon monoxide detector was nearby.
Documents show inspectors say they found both 232 Weller Ave. and 98 Joyce St. had rooms where required fire resistance and separation weren't in place. A report for 250 Weller Ave. mentions a self-closing door was missing there, too. Kingston Fire & Rescue staff visited the home on May 2, 2023, according to a copy of an order included in the records reviewed by CBC. The inspector noted "sleeping accommodations" found in a small attic space that could only be reached through stairs and a trap door above the second floor.Carts with scrap metal and other belongings sit outside 780 Montreal St. The home was the site of a fire in June 2023 that injured a woman and her two children.
The City of Kingston issued a media release the same day mentioning the fire at 780 Montreal St. The city said following the fire that killed Demille and Crowley, it had taken "specific and proactive measures," inspecting dozens of properties deemed "high-risk."Figuring out just how many residential properties the family owns wasn't straightforward, according to the documents obtained by CBC.
A fire prevention vehicle is shown parked outside Kingston Fire & Rescue headquarters on March 6, 2023. He added that after the fire, Dadiala provided the fire department with a list of 27 properties he owns, along with two owned by other members of his family. When they arrived at the hospital a social worker took them aside and warned they wouldn't recognize Bonnie.Alma Clark, Bonnie's mother, said she can't escape that night.Bonnie Demille, 35, is shown in a selfie shared on her Facebook page.
On April 3, Kingscourt-Rideau Coun. Brandon Tozzo emailed Lanie Hurdle, Kingston's chief administrative officer, to follow up on a constituent concern. "One of the issues/challenges that we have is that we can only enter properties based on complaints and many people are not filing complaints," Hurdle wrote to the councillor.For housing advocate Chyrstal Wilson, the idea that someone wouldn't raise concerns about conditions, including those who live at Dadiala properties, comes as no surprise.
"He's notorious in this city. Councillors know who he is, bylaw officers know who he is, why weren't they being more proactive before all of this?" she asked. Inspection orders were issued for 13 Dadiala properties, fire officials confirmed by email, adding they've either been closed since or the landlord is in the process of making corrections.
Walking around the site this past November, Clark spotted what she thought might have been Bonnie's scarf. It was crammed into a trailer left at the lot, stacked high with broken bits of the home and the lives of those who stayed there.
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