The final spark: Quincy family escapes electrical fire in rental property after months of neglected repairs

This story is the first installment of a new series from Muddy River News entitled Seeking Shelter which focuses on Quincy’s housing crisis. Click here to learn more.

QUINCY — Radiance Oliver gave birth to her fourth child in December. It was a high-risk pregnancy that concluded with an emergency Cesarian section and a baby boy named Uzziah. 

Less than a month later, she and her children stood outside their rental home at 219 Chestnut in the middle of the night during a snowstorm and watched as fire crews fought for two hours to extinguish the flames that swallowed everything they owned — snowflakes descending upon their heads, clouds of smoke vanishing into the night sky. 

“We just sat there and watched the fire burn,” Oliver said. “Everything could have been prevented. Everything could have been so preventable … We lost everything.”

At 1:05 a.m. on Jan. 5 — just four minutes before the Quincy Fire Department (QFD) was dispatched to the two-unit rental house Oliver and her children lived in — Oliver received a text from her landlord, Shanekia Scott:

“Hello there is a electrical problem upstairs … and I’m trying to get a electrician out there will have to enter your back porch to get to the basement this just happened sorry about the late notice” (Shanekia Scott to Radiance Oliver; Jan. 5, 2025 at 1:05 a.m.)

The late notice was too late.

“House is on fire,” Oliver replied.

It all happened so fast. 

Oliver’s 9-year-old daughter Mahari was the only one awake when the fire started (she’d been sick and slept for most of the day before). Oliver swears she’d only been asleep for 20 minutes by the time she awoke to Quincy Police Department (QPD) officers banging on the front and back doors and Mahari “screaming at the top of her lungs” about the fire. If the smoke alarm went off, Oliver said she didn’t hear it.

As flames ate their way through the ceiling tiles, Oliver raced back into her room, newborn in tow, to grab her 2-year-old son Terry. 

“If we would have waited any longer, for real, we would have been trapped in that room … with my toddler and my newborn,” Oliver said. “How scary is that?”

Mahari tried to wake 8-year-old D.J. but was unsuccessful. After passing Terry out the front door to a QPD officer — a “young officer” Oliver wishes she could remember the name of — and telling Mahari to get out of the house, she went back in to grab D.J. Her “mom instincts” couldn’t wait for firefighters to arrive.

The family eventually stood outside, barefoot, wearing only the clothes they’d been sleeping in — with the exception of Mahari who, since she was already awake when the fire broke out, had time to grab her coat and shoes — and watched the fire burn. 

“I thank God that (Mahari) was up. God did that for a reason,” Oliver said. “Had to sleep all day to have her up at night, so I’m grateful for it. I just don’t like the after effects.”

Plagued by flashbacks and fears that it could happen again, the family hasn’t slept much in the months since. Oliver described watching over Mahari as she tossed and turned in her sleep.

“People say I should be over it or just feel blessed that I made it out … I can’t wrap my head around it because it could have been a preventable situation,” Oliver said.

Electrical hazards noted in September inspection

Several months before the fire, during a Sept. 6 inspection of the house, city inspector Warren Dietrich identified multiple electrical system hazards in Oliver’s unit alone:

• “Open wire splice in closet of bedroom
• no glob [sic] on light in closet
• 3 prong outlet with no ground
• electric service needs repaired
• service wire in poor condition”

The only reason the inspection occurred was because Oliver had filed a minimum housing complaint form with the city against her landlord, Scott, on Aug. 20. The form is one of very few pathways tenants have, without taking legal action, to put pressure on their landlords to make repairs if they aren’t doing it out of their own volition. 

She submitted the complaint after her doctor expressed concerns during a pregnancy check-up. 

“(My OB-GYN had) seen my legs and he was like, ‘Radiance, what’s going on?’” Oliver said. “I’m like, ‘I’m getting ate up.’”

Dr. Jean Alexandre, formerly of Quincy Medical Group and Blessing Health, wrote in a note dated Aug. 13 that it was his “professional opinion that (Oliver has) the bug infestation in her house taken care of immediately” as it was “a health concern for her and her baby.”

The unit was plagued with gnats, flies, cockroaches and ants, Oliver said. Scott asked Oliver if she brought bed bugs into the unit, but Oliver said they hadn’t even moved all of their things into the unit when she first noticed the bugs and that they’d been temporarily using air mattresses. Oliver was concerned about the safety hazards the bugs presented to her children, especially for her 2-year-old who spent a lot of time playing on the floor, and for the baby she’d soon have crawling around. 

Text messages provided to Muddy River News between Oliver and Scott indicate that Scott was aware of the infestation for more than a month before Alexandre’s note was written. 

Multiple photos supporting Oliver’s claim of a bug infestation, including photos of bug bites on her legs, a cohort of flies on her air conditioning unit and what appeared to be small bugs on the floor, were submitted with her complaint form.

Text messages provided to Muddy River News indicate that Scott sent one of her maintenance people to attempt to remedy the problem at least once, and Oliver said Scott stopped by herself to treat the outside of the property “whenever she was in town.” The gnat infestation subsided by the time of the inspection, but the flies continued until the weather cooled down. Oliver said the cockroaches “lived” in her kitchen and never went away, preventing her from ever leaving dishes in the sink and forcing her to be especially cautious whenever her toddler was playing and eating in the kitchen.

Oliver also listed in her Aug. 20 complaint mold and plumbing issues and a fraudulent leasing contract as issues she’d encountered with the property and with Scott since moving in in June. Oliver said the lease she signed had no dates on it, but when she requested a paper copy, Scott provided a different copy of the lease with dates that was complete with Oliver’s signature.

According to Illinois law, “(a) A person commits forgery when, with intent to defraud, he or she knowingly … issues or delivers such document knowing it to have been thus made or altered.”

Scott declined to be interviewed, so it is unclear if she intended to defraud Oliver.

Oliver also detailed an altercation she had with a neighbor, who also rents from Scott, when the father of her children was visiting. He’s a veteran with a service dog, and Oliver said the neighbor’s children would come over and “mess with the service dog.” Oliver said the children kept bothering the dog even after she asked them and their parents to stop, which led to a verbal interaction between Oliver and their mother. Oliver, several months pregnant at the time of the altercation, claimed the mother then threatened to hit her with a bottle.

A QPD officer tried to review footage from a security camera that was attached to the property at 219 Chestnut and owned by Scott, but Scott refused them access.

The plumbing “was horrible,” Oliver said. Her kitchen sink started leaking badly around mid-August and shortly after, the cold water in her shower stopped working. 

The Consumer Product Safety Commission stated that five minutes of exposure to 120º water could result in third-degree burns, as could a 30-second exposure to 130º water, a six-second exposure to 140º water and a two-second exposure to 150º water. It’s unclear how hot Oliver’s tub was getting in the absence of a cold water source. 

Scott sent someone to work on the sink, Oliver said, but when Oliver called Scott to suggest they repair the shower while they were there, Scott said she wouldn’t pay for it. The tub was eventually fixed after several days of attempted maintenance by Scott herself and two additional maintenance men. It’s unclear what the cost savings were.

Oliver said she and her kids had to pack a bag and go to her mother’s house each time they needed to shower during the five days it took for the shower to get fixed.

Oliver hadn’t noticed more severe issues lurking beneath the surface of the cosmetic upgrades Scott had spoken about before the family moved in. Since the deposit and first three months rent had been paid by the time the apartment started having issues less than a month after moving in, Oliver stated that moving out wasn’t a viable option.

“Looks can be deceiving. Looks can be so freaking deceiving,” Oliver said. “You can put a new floor in to make a house look nice, but what’s underneath that floor?”

A video taken by Oliver appeared to show tiny bugs, which she believes crawled up through the carpet and were dotted along the bottom half of the baseboards. Additionally, Oliver said deep indentations in some spots made the floor feel fragile.

“I didn’t allow (my kids) to jump in the house or do any flips or anything,” Oliver said, looking at her children. “Why? What did I tell y’all?”

“Because we’ll fall down,” Mahari and D.J. said in unison. 

“We’ll fall through the floor and then we’ll get hurt,” D.J. continued.

Multiple code violations went unrepaired in months leading up to fire

Aside from the electrical hazards, the only other issues Dietrich noted in his inspection pertained to the absence of smoke detectors and the bathroom sink not working. 

Once they’re informed of the code violations found during an inspection, landlords typically have two weeks to make the repairs or risk potential litigation from the city. 

Dietrich updated the report Sept. 24:

“Talked to owner waiting electric contractor [sic],” he noted.

By the end of September, Oliver hadn’t heard anything about making repairs from her landlord, nor had she received an update from Dietrich. She emailed him Sept. 30 asking for an update, to which he responded with the same information he’d noted in the report the week before. 

Per municipal code, all plumbing and electrical repairs to rental properties must be made by a licensed contractor. Oliver said a couple men came by to make repairs over the course of the time the family lived in the unit, but she doesn’t believe they were professionals. 

“The funkiest, the drunkest, the most high people I’ve ever met in my life … There’s a lot of people who used to work for her that just don’t qualify to be maintenance men,” Oliver said.

Repairs were rarely made, Oliver said, but when they were, the people sent to make them wouldn’t get there until “eight, nine o’clock at night.” She said many of them were “homeless or drunk or druggies” and that they’d often have to come back multiple nights in a row to finish a job. 

“Instead of paying the professionals to do it and getting it done in one day, (Scott) would rather shortcut and make me feel uncomfortable, for one … (and) put my safety and my kids’ safety at risk, for two,” Oliver said.

Oliver said a man entered her house around mid-October while she was sleeping to address one of the electrical hazards noted by Dietrich in the inspection report, “no glob [sic] on light in closet.” 

“F*** the cover of the light — (I’d) been living like that for months. I (needed someone) to fix the biggest problems. My lights (were) flickering,” she said.

Oliver said she told Dietrich about how her lights flickered whenever she turned her water on, especially her washer. She also said he observed it himself during the inspection.

Muddy River News could not confirm if Dietrich was aware of the flickering lights, as it wasn’t noted as such on the inspection report. He declined to comment. 

In an emailed statement, Michael Seaver, director of inspections and enforcement for the city, said that although it wasn’t noted in the report, Dietrich had contacted Scott more than once. Additionally, he said the department had been in contact with the person Scott had hired to complete the work.

Seaver said the department does reinspections once corrections are made, but that the “electrician” Scott was utilizing was “still waiting for equipment or devices before the correction could be made” during the nearly four months that had passed between the inspection and the fire. When asked who the contractor was, the department did not respond.

Muddy River News reached out to 18 licensed electricians in the Quincy area. Of those, 15 replied. None had any record of completing work at 219 Chestnut. None of the eight out of 12 plumbers who got back to Muddy River News had any record of completing work there, either. 

Scott stopped by around mid-October to fix the smoke detectors, Oliver said, but she didn’t remember her stopping by after that. Oliver said the remaining issues — including the electrical hazards — were never fixed.

Shoddy electrical work found in ignition area

The official incident report from QFD said the fire was caused by an electrical failure. 

More specifically, the heat source was an electrical arc — defined by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) as a “phenomenon” that “forms when an electric current is sustained outside of its normal conductive pathway, such as air” and is “three times hotter than the sun’s surface” — within a concealed wall space.

The fire’s investigation report noted that Oliver told investigators that “she had experienced outlets that did not work, lights that would flicker, and pronounced flickering when utilizing the washer and/or dryer.” The report also noted Oliver mentioned Scott was aware of “numerous issues” with the property, as well as that Oliver has said she “was aware that electricians had been contacted, but the many electrical issues throughout the building had never been fixed.”

The report also indicated investigators reviewed a video taken by the tenant of the upstairs unit of lights flickering that was timestamped at 11:43 p.m. — less than two hours before the fire started. The electrical arc was found on wiring that supplied power to the outlet the upstairs refrigerator was plugged into.

Within a 10-foot length of electrical wiring in the area of ignition, investigators observed five junction boxes, two separate spliced sections and various types and ages of wiring. Brad Silman, owner of BBS Electric in Quincy, said these findings, particularly in regard to multiple junction boxes in such a short distance, suggests there might have been electrical issues in the past.

“Most electrical fires are started because of bad connections, and to have multiple junction boxes increases the likelihood of that happening because now you have more connection points to make up,” Silman explained. 

It wasn’t until Jan. 21 —  the same day Muddy River News requested a copy of the inspection report — that Dietrich made another note on Oliver’s inspection report:

“2nd floor apartment had fire, apartment closed”

Oliver said the Red Cross provided emergency financial assistance — about $200 per person — which Oliver used to buy clothes for the kids since they no longer had any. She attempted to get further financial assistance through other various advocacy groups and agencies, but she was unsuccessful because an address was required — and she no longer had one.

Oliver said Scott tried to help her after the fire, but she wasn’t interested.

“(Scott) kept saying, ‘I have a house for you now, I have a house for you now.’ And I’m just like, ‘But you couldn’t give me the house that was safe in the beginning?’” Oliver said. “(She doesn’t) care about me and my safety. Honestly, (she) just cares about not getting the consequences that (she) deserves as a person or as a landlord.”

Columbus Road Baptist Church helped the family immediately with “whatever was needed,” including paying for a two-night hotel stay and collecting donations on their behalf.

Scott returned the rent money Oliver had paid her for the month of January — minus the rent for the four days of the month they lived at the apartment. Oliver said she didn’t receive her deposit back from Scott until Feb. 4 because she hadn’t returned her key.

The family returned to the house in February to grab whatever was salvageable to take to their new place. It was the first time the kids had seen the house since the fire happened. Oliver didn’t show them photos out of concern they would be further traumatized.

As they finished packing up whatever they could grab from inside that was still salvageable, Mahari leaned against their car while clutching a small white vanity mirror with lights — the only Christmas present she’d gotten that wasn’t completely destroyed.

“It’s OK. It doesn’t matter,” she said. “At least I still have my family.”

“You can have some of my Pokemon cards, Mahari,” her brother D.J. offered. 

Wishlists are available on Amazon and Walmart for people interested in donating to the family. The family thanks the community for the support they’ve received thus far, as well as the Quincy Police and Fire Department for their efforts on Jan. 5.