Bridgeport settles suit over fatal fire for $825K

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — Bridgeport officials have agreed to pay $825,000 to a city man whose wife and three children were killed in a 2005 apartment fire.

The Connecticut Post reports the City Council settled a lawsuit Monday night with Rihn Thach, a Vietnamese immigrant who said the city fire marshal failed to make inspections that could have prevented the deaths.

Thach and his family lived on the second floor of an apartment building on Iranistan Avenue. An investigation showed the apartment had no smoke detectors, windows were barred and a possible escape route was nailed shut.

Thach's 35-year-old wife, his 14-year-old son and two daughters, ages 11 and 3, were killed. He was the family's only survivor.

Thach's landlord pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in 2006 and received a suspended sentence.

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Information from: Connecticut Post