ORLEANS — The family of six-year-old Kyi Odeen Bourne, who died in a house fire on Feb. 4, has found a year-round rental but is still in temporary housing while their new home is being renovated.
“Hopefully, the renovation will be completed soon, and the family can finally have a permanent and safe roof over their heads,” said Monomoy Schools Supt. Scott Carpenter. Kyi attended kindergarten in Harwich. “But the process hasn’t been easy,” Carpenter added, “particularly for a family that has also been managing the grief of losing a child.”
Kyi died in a fire at 177 Route 6A that started in a five-bedroom apartment that had been illegally constructed. After the fire, his mother, Shantal Thomas-Johnson, her new husband, Rahim Johnson, and Kyi’s eight-year-old sister, Kylie, had to abandon their apartment in the building, which has been condemned.
The owner of 177 Route 6A, Ben Zehnder, did not return calls from the Independent seeking comment.
Harwich Elementary School, where Kylie is in second grade, has been a hub of activity to support the family. A GoFundMe campaign raised $50,755 in just a few days, after which Thomas-Johnson stopped accepting donations. She could not be reached for comment.
Despite the outpouring of support, finding a new home has been hard, Carpenter said. A Harwich business owner gave the family rooms at the Stone Horse Motel in Harwich, which is a dormitory for seasonal workers. But they had to leave by March 15 because other tenants were returning.
The family recently found a year-round affordable unit with a long-term lease, Carpenter said, but cannot move into it until renovations are complete. In the meantime, they are staying in a summer house that is currently vacant, he said.
“Keep in mind, this family had literally just moved into something they hoped was long-term in Orleans when this tragedy hit,” Carpenter told the Independent.
In the wake of the fire, the town of Orleans is dealing with the illegal renovation that took place at the centrally located building. Zehnder told the Independent that in 2017 he entered into a lease-to-own agreement with Peter Eli of Florida, who then carried out the renovations and rented out the new units without getting the proper permits. Eli has refused to talk to the Independent.
As a four-unit residential building, 177 Route 6A should have been inspected every five years, according to the state building code. But since it officially housed only two units, inspections were not required, said Building Inspector Martin Furtado.
The town information technology department is now setting up a system for the building department to contact the owners of all properties with three or more residential units. The purpose is to get the properties inspected every five years, Furtado said. This has not been done before, he said, because his department is understaffed.
“I think there are a lot more apartments like [177 Route 6A] in town, and I would like to do more investigations,” Furtado told the Independent on March 9. “But there is no one here to do that.”
Orleans Interim Town Manager Charlie Sumner said there will be no allocation for new inspection staff in the 2024 town budget. But there may be a town meeting in the fall at which voters would be asked to fund as many as eight new firefighters, he said. The new staff would have more time to inspect properties. The town is also in the process of writing a rental registration bylaw.
