Theresa Malloy moved into the West Chester senior living community called Barclay Friends in October.
Her children decided it was time for the 85-year-old grandmother to live in a facility that could provide safety and security, and also allow her to maintain some independence.
Four weeks after moving in, Malloy was one of four seniors to die in a Nov. 16 inferno at the complex. The family now is struggling to wrap their heads around how she could've failed to escape the fire.
"Mom was fiercely independent her whole life and we respected that independence, which is why when it came time to look for a suitable senior living facility, it was important that it was a place where we knew she’d not only be happy, but, above all, be protected. Be safe from harm," one of her sons, Martin Malloy, said Wednesday. "And now we’re struggling for answers to the most basic questions: Why wasn’t she protected, how could this have happened in what was supposed to be an excellent place?"
The other victims were identified as Mildred Gadde and a married couple, Delores and Thomas Parker.
No lawsuit has yet been filed by Malloy's children, but three of them have retained one of Philadelphia's most renowned civil litigants, Robert Mongeluzzi, and his law firm, Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky.
"From what we now know, Barclay Friends failed in its obligation to protect this wonderful woman," Mongeluzzi said at a press conference with the Malloy family in his firm's Center City offices.
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One of Mongeluzzi's colleagues, attorney Andrew Duffy, said he toured the burned-out facility hours before the press conference Wednesday with two forensic fire-safety experts hired by the law firm.
No foul play is suspected in the fire, the ATF said.
But a final, official cause of the blaze has not yet been determined.
The fire erupted shortly before 11 p.m. while most of the 137 residents were sleeping. The blaze started in the back of one of the buildings, ripped through the center and all the way to the ceiling, creating a "raging inferno," Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said.
Flames tore through the senior living community's personal care wing with such speed that hundreds of first responders rushed into the building without securing their breathing equipment.
Several firefighters described their helmets melting and cracking from the intense heat.
[PHOTOS]Seniors Flee Inferno at West Chester Senior Living Community
Most of the residents were bedridden or in wheelchairs. Senior home staff and outside neighbors rushed from room to room in the facility, wrapping residents in blankets and sweeping them out in to the frigid night in wheelchairs and even in beds.
Paramedics took 27 residents to hospitals for treatment. Some of the injuries were described by authorities as "serious." Of those that were rescued without injury, 102 were placed in other facilities and 31 have been taken in by family members.
