Amputee not discovered by rescue workers in Birmingham apartment fire dies
By Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com The Birmingham News
Birmingham, AL
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A disabled man who was left behind in the evacuation of the Birmingham Building Trades Tower has now died. John Wayne Barden, 62, was pronounced dead at UAB Hospital at 7:30 p.m. Friday, according to the Jefferson County Coroner's Office. Barden was rescued two days after the Oct. 26 fire at the Southside building. Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates said authorities have not yet confirmed the cause of death.
Unattended food left on a stove in a second-floor apartment started the blaze. At least 80 residents of complex at the corner of 10th Avenue and 20th Street South were evacuated. Many of the residents are elderly or disabled - residents must be 55 and older -and were unable to get out without assistance during the three-alarm fire.
Fire officials said they knocked on Barden's door during the evacuation, but didn't get an answer. They assumed the apartment was vacant.
Barden's attorneys, Frank and Rachel Buck, filed a lawsuit last week against the owners of the Birmingham Building Trades Towers, alleging that they negligently maintained the building and failed to ensure a safe dwelling. The defendants in the lawsuit include Georgia Holding, LLC; Birmingham Building Trades Tower; Building and Construction Trade Group, Inc.; Providian Real Estate Management, Inc. and Emmanuel Ku.
"Barden was left in his apartment, with no attempts being made to find him for two days," according to the complaint. "Upon entry to the apartment, rescue personnel found Mr. Barden on the floor. The fire and subsequent failure to remove John Barden from the apartment was the result of negligent and wanton behavior on the part of the defendants."
A friend of Barden's tried to tell authorities that he had been left behind, according to news reports. Barden was confined to a wheelchair and couldn't leave the building without assistance.
Construction crews are cleaning and repairing damage to the building, but city officials said they doesn't expect it to reopen until 2016.
Bronx-based Emmanuel Ku, one of the owners of the building named in the lawsuit, is no stranger to controversy. He was named third-worst slumlord in 2005 in New York by the organization Housing Here and Now. When he purchased Birmingham Building Trades Tower in 2005, Ku pledged to make more than a million dollars in repairs, according to news reports.
The October fire was the third one in the last 10 years at the building. A fire in 2006 injured an 80-year-old resident, and two died in a 2011 fire.