MATT GRYTA
Buffalo News

The widow of Buffalo Fire Lt. Charles W. "Chip" McCarthy Jr. filed suit Wednesday in State Supreme Court against the city, Mayor Byron W. Brown, former Fire Commissioner Michael S. Lombardo and the owners of the Genesee Street deli-warehouse where her husband died in a fire in August 2009.


Thomas H. Burton, Theresa Ann McCarthy's chief attorney, said that while a "significant" monetary penalty is expected against all the defendants, the main intent of the suit is "hopefully to enable the city to avoid another coffin on a fire truck" by toughening city codes and fire scene protocols.

Attorneys for the family of Firefighter Jonathan S. Croom, who also died in that fire, are reportedly on the verge of filing a similar suit.

Burton said Saleh K. Abdullah, the father of building owner Adel Abdullah and the operator of the Genesee Street deli, is reportedly in Yemen. His son was served with court papers Wednesday at the deli he currently operates across the street from where the old deli stood.

Burton said the suit, which cites alleged code violations at the now-destroyed building, "will also serve as a wake-up call to business owners who don't follow all applicable building and fire codes."

Peter K. Cutler, the spokesman for the mayor's office, said city attorneys are studying the McCarthy lawsuit and declined to comment further. Adel Abdullah could not be reached to comment.

In addition to accusing the Abdullahs of numerous building and fire code violations, Mrs. McCarthy's suit accuses the city of improper inspection of the building and the Fire Department of inadequate firefighting safety procedures.

The suit accuses the city of failing to enforce a so-called "Two In, Two Out Rule" and failing to always have an "accountability or safety" officer on duty at the scene of a burning building to keep track of firefighters entering and leaving the structure.

The suit also accuses the Fire Department of failing to enforce the so-called the "buddy system during interior firefighting operations."

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October 14, 2010