LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) - The deadly 2nd Street fire in Old Louisville claimed another life Thursday morning while the person who set that fire is still walking free.
The man who died, John Bullock, was pulled from the burning building one week ago but his sister tells WHAS11 that the arsonist is not the only person this family blames for Bullock's death.
Seven days after flames ripped through an Old Louisville home, a family feels like it has now been ripped apart.
"For a person who loved life, as much as he did, to be taken so quickly from us, it's just...it's just heartbreaking," says Kathryn Smith, Bullock's youngest sister.
Smith said goodbye to her brother early Thursday morning at University Hospital, where he was being treated since being pulled from his burning 2nd Street apartment. She says John fought hard over the last week, but the severe burns and other complications were just too much.
"I would personally like to thank the fireman who rescued him and gave us a week, the week that we had, for him to know that he was loved, and family, everybody came from out of town..."
Bullock lived in the house just four days before the fire scorched the building. Arson investigators believe someone set that fire on purpose, but Bullock's sister blames the building's landlord for what she calls a lack of upkeep on property. She says she feels her brother's death was 100 percent preventable.
"I believe it was dangerous, I mean for three lives to be lost, for people to have to jump to safety because there was a locked fire escape, no smoke alarms, it wasn't in great condition, he didn't plan on staying very long but I mean…"
Bullock is being remembered as a family man, spoiling his six-year-old niece. He lived in Louisville for more than a decade, but his family is originally from Ohio where relatives say his funeral will likely take place.
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