FIRE SAFETY AT SHELTER QUESTIONED

DEATH UNDERSCORES 2-YEAR-OLD REPORT

The weekend death of an 18-month-old boy in a fire at the Capitol City Inn, a crowded, city-run shelter for homeless families, occurred more than two years after fire safety inspectors found -- and failed to have corrected -- an array of hazards at the facility, according to D.C. fire officials.

During an April 1987 sweep of Capitol City, D.C. fire safety inspectors cited various violations, including missing or broken smoke detectors in at least 15 motel rooms that are home to families of as many as eight. Fire extinguishers were missing and potentially flammable debris was found in storage areas during the inspection.

Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the fire on Saturday that killed Comanta Reid while his mother, Latrisa Reid, 20, stood in line for food in the shelter's cafeteria, Capt. Theodore Holmes, spokesman for the D.C. Fire Department, said yesterday. Holmes said investigators also are trying to learn whether there was a working smoke detector in the burning room, or adequate fire extinguishers nearby. Residents of the shelter rescued three other children, ages 16 months to 3 years, from the room.

An autopsy Tuesday indicated that the toddler died from "severe thermal body burns," said Carol McMahon of the D.C. Medical Examiner's Office.

Meanwhile, police said yesterday that 4-month-old Sophia Hunter died early Monday at another city shelter, the Transitional Living Community, which houses 45 families in the 1400 block of Park Road NW.

The infant was found unconscious on the floor between two beds in the apartment she shared with her mother and 7-year-old sister. McMahon said the infant's body will be checked for signs of abuse during an autopsy this morning.

"This is a priority case. There are so many questions," McMahon said. "There is concern about abuse and the fact that the baby died in a city shelter." Police are awaiting autopsy results before beginning an investigation and have not released the mother's name.

The infants' deaths bring to seven the number of children who have died at city-run shelters since January 1988. Five of the children died at the Capitol City Inn, which has been called a "hell hole" by a Superior Court judge.

Holmes said yesterday that he was at a loss to explain why nothing was done to protect families at the Capitol City Inn after the fire hazards were discovered. "Unfortunately in this situation, the last inspection on this facility was in April 1987, and found a total of six {categories of} violations," Holmes said. "There is no indication of rectifying the violations, no indication of any follow-up inspection and no indication of any inspection in 1988."

City social service officials said yesterday that they had made vast improvements to city-run shelters despite the arrival of three to five new families a week into the already overextended system.

"These unfortunate deaths are not peculiar to homeless families. There's no direct correlation between homelessness and the deaths," said Edward Sargent, spokesman for the D.C. Commission on Social Services, which is responsible for city-run shelters for the homeless. "It could have happened anywhere, and these types of accidents do happen everywhere, unfortunately."

Advocates for the homeless renewed demands yesterday for adequate living conditions, safe facilities and improved social services for displaced families. D.C. officials have missed by two months their self-imposed deadline for closing the Capitol City Inn, a motel that costs the city $3,000 a month for each of the 180 families sheltered there.

"The two tragedies are sort of the obvious result of what can happen under these conditions," said Susie Sinclair-Smith, director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. "The advocacy community is very saddened by this."

Sinclair-Smith called the lack of action "inexcusable. If they knew that there were violations, it would be incumbent on them to fix the violations."

Sargent said yesterday that conditions at the shelter are safe and that Latrisa Reid should not have left her son unattended. "We haven't seen any evidence of any major violations of health and/or safety, including fire safety," he said.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.