Gregory Nisbet, owner of the Noyes Street building that burned tragically Nov. 1, may be the current bad-landlord poster child, but we should all keep in mind that nothing so far indicates that the condition of the house had any role in the fire.
We don’t know how the fire started or if the condition of the property made the outcome worse or who might have removed or disabled alarms. It’s hard to imagine that a property owner would pile flammable trash in a building and set up furniture in front of exit doors.
Everything we see reported, however, links the awful event of the fire with the mess in the house and with action or inaction by Mr. Nesbit.
That may ultimately be right, but for now it’s just the worst kind of speculation and prejudice. The paper is doing no service with this kind of reporting.
Joseph O’Donnell
Portland
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.