Hamptons Rental Where Fire Killed 2 Skipped Inspection

(Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty Images)

Details are beginning to emerge about the Hamptons rental property where two sisters were killed in a fire this week.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but an official with the Town of Southampton said Wednesday that no valid rental permit was on file for the house in Noyack, Newsday reported.

Town rental permit applications come with either a safety inspection from the town or a licensed professional contracted by the homeowners. It has not been reported who owns the home, but the owner had no known connection to the family renting it.

“Unfortunately, in this instance there was no safety inspection, there was no rental inspection and none of those things occurred because there was never an application submitted for this to be a rental,” said Ryan Murphy, Southampton’s director of code compliance and emergency management administrator, according to the newspaper. “What occurred here was a tragedy.”

The cause of the fire is believed to be non-criminal, based on initial evidence. It’s not clear if the homeowners could face consequences for not complying with the town’s rental registry. There were permit applications on file for work at the home in recent years.

The fire in Wednesday’s early morning hours killed Jillian Wiener, 21, and Lindsay Wiener, 19. When personnel arrived on the scene after being called at 3:35 am, the house was fully engulfed in flames. Officials said the sisters were found unresponsive and were pronounced dead at a hospital.

The three surviving members had already made it out of the house when firefighters arrived. The first responders initially struggled to reach the two victims, as they were repelled by the intense heat, as was their father, who tried to go in for them.

Local officials have said there were smoke detectors in the home. An investigation was ongoing as to whether or not those were working on the night of the fire.

Lewis Wiener, 60, Alisa Wiener, 52, and their son Zachary, 23, managed to escape the home and were treated at an area hospital. Police said the family was vacationing in the Hamptons from their home in Potomac, Maryland.

— Holden Walter-Warner