The building was on fire and unsafe thanks to the slumlord who owned it. They were seconds from being rescued when the fire escape collapsed.

>The tillerman of the first fire engine to arrive at the scene, Robert O'Neill, asked 19-year-old Bryant to lift her two-year-old goddaughter Jones to him on the roof, but Bryant was unable to do so and O'Neill jumped down to help before the ladder could reach them. O'Neill had one arm around Bryant and one hand on a rung of the ladder when the fire escape collapsed. O'Neil managed to hang by one hand and was rescued, but Bryant and Jones fell approximately 50 feet (15 meters). Bryant sustained multiple head and body injuries and died hours later. Jones survived the fall as she had landed on Bryant, softening the impact.[2] A helicopter pilot, Joe Green, who provided traffic reports and landed on a nearby roof, reportedly offered to pick up Bryant and Jones, but got no response from the firefighter.[4]

>Police obtained an arrest warrant for the building's owner, Fred Durham, for trash fires behind the building.[4] A police complaint charged Durham with keeping an unlicensed lodging house.[4] Three trash fires behind the building were reported in the weeks preceding the accident.[4]

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