Dunwoody fire victim's family sues DeKalb

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The family of a 74-year-old Dunwoody woman who died in a house fire has filed suit against DeKalb County, saying officials seem disinterested in their suggestions on improving procedures.

Ruth Bartlett, Ann Bartlett's middle daughter, said Friday the family was further frustrated when one of the five firefighters fired for not walking up to the house when first dispatched was reinstated and a second had a hearing on his appeal this week; the family, she said, is expecting all to be back on the job eventually.

“The only times they reached out to us was in the days surrounding the incident,” Ruth Bartlett told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday. “We had a meeting [with DeKalb County officials] a week or 10 days later and [since then] they’ve gone silent. They’ve not given us reports."

Any information the family has got since then has come through the media, she said.

“We basically wanted an apology from the firemen and never got it,” she said.

A DeKalb County spokeswoman declined to comment on the suit.

"On behalf of DeKalb County, our sympathy is with the Bartlett family. DeKalb County does not comment on pending litigation, therefore, no additional statement will be issued," said Shelia Edwards, spokeswoman for DeKalb's CEO.

Ann Bartlett’s daughters say their goal is to change the DeKalb fire department’s policies and practices, changes they said might have saved their mother.

They decided to sue after a hearing officer reinstated one of the firefighters, Capt. Tony Motes, in early April, a decision the county is challenging.

“The [DeKalb County] Human Resources Department says what was done out there was fine and nothing was done wrong. That’s a bitter pill,” said Bartlett family attorney W. Pitts Carr. Fire Chief David Foster was forced out on Feb. 1; Foster is not named as a defendant in the suit.

Meanwhile, two other fired firefighters have appeals pending.

“The only way we can bring attention to this is through this lawsuit and let other DeKalb County and city of Dunwoody residents know it was swept under the rug. We’re fearful all of them will get their jobs back,” Ruth Bartlett said

Ann Bartlett called 911 minutes after 1 a.m. on Jan. 24 to report she had “set the house on fire with the thing from my nose,” referring to an oxygen concentrator she used when she slept. But the phone went dead during that call.

“The phone goes out and ... the dispatcher could not call back. It was a disconnect. It should have been another clue to those people. They never bothered,” Ruth Bartlett said.

Engines 12 and 18 and truck 18 pulled up at the 1600 block of Houghton Court North 12 minutes later but they all left when firefighters saw no signs of a blaze. Five hours later, after a neighbor called, firefighters returned to find the home engulfed.

Ann Bartlett was found beside the garage door, which ordinarily required electricity to open.  Ann Bartlett said  was a “young” 74, her daughter said, but still unable to open the garage door manually.

Bartlett's cordless phone, which also operated using electricity, was nearby.

“We are comfortable she made the call form the garage,” Ruth Bartlett said. “We assume she was trapped in the garage. The garage door … wouldn’t go up. She’s 74 years old and in the dark.”

Though one of Ann Bartlett’s daughters lives nearby, her children encouraged her to first call 911 first in an emergency.

“She must have been walking toward the garage,” Ruth Bartlett said.

The medical examiner reported Ann Bartlett was burned beyond recognition, but she died of smoke and soot inhalation.

The suit asked for unspecified monetary damages.

The suit, filed in DeKalb Superior Court, opens with a quote from DeKalb County Public Safety Director William "Wiz" Miller.

“Ann Bartlett did what she was supposed to do,” Miller said a month after the fire. “She called 911 and she waited for us to respond. She was the only one that did what they were supposed to do that night of the fatal fire at her home. There were some monumental failures here. We’re trying to make sure that everybody knows now what they should do in circumstances like this … They should have, and they could have, responded appropriately.”

The suit accuses the fire department, the county and Motes, acting officer William Greene, Capt. Sell Caldwell, Battalion Chief Lesley Clark and acting shift commander Bennie Paige of negligence that led to Ann Bartlett’s death.

“We feel like they have shut us out,” Ruth Bartlett said. “They’re not doing anything, to our knowledge, to change their policies and procedures. All we want is a third-party review. This fell apart at four or five different points. Our main deal is not about money.”

Staff Reporter Megan Matteucci contributed to this report.