PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia rowhouse that burned early Sunday morning, killing a tenant and his three children, lacked a rental license and smoke detectors — lapses that went unnoticed for years in a city with no comprehensive inspection policy for rentals.
Since 2014, residents Alexis Rios, 37, and Jasmin Vega, 36, had lived with their three children in a two-story rowhouse on the 3200 block of Hartville Street in the city’s Kensington section through a rent-to-own agreement with owners who had bought the house a decade earlier for $2,000.
The house caught fire around 2 a.m. on Sunday and was quickly consumed, killing Rios and sixth-grader Alexangel Arroyo-Santana, 12; third-grader Yadriel Arroyo-Santana, 9; and kindergartner Yamalier Arroyo-Santana, who would have turned 6 next month.
