A Sag Harbor summer rental where two college-age sisters were killed in a fire had “worthless carcasses of non-functioning alarms” — but a popular vacation rental website portrayed the property as safe, according to a lawsuit.
Jillian Wiener, 21, and her sister Lindsay, 19, of Potomac, Md., were vacationing with their parents and older brother at 3 Spring Lane, when a fire erupted on Aug. 3, killing the women and leaving their family shattered.
“Rather than fond memories of a week’s vacation on Long Island’s east end, the Wiener family is left with a nightmare from which they cannot wake,” the family declared in their Brooklyn federal court filing against Homeaway.com and the property owners.
The Wieners — dad Lew, mom Alisa, son Zachary, 23, and the girls — had spent $8,000 to rent the home for a week. The three-bedroom, two-bath, $1.8 million house was owned by Pamela and Peter Miller.
Lindsay Wiener, left, and her sister, Jillian. jillywiener/VSCO
The garage door of the Sag Harbor home where two young women were killed in a fire in August. WUSA9With patriarch Lewis Wiener, a former federal prosecutor, suffering serious health issues, the trip was already bittersweet — but it became a hellscape when the family awoke at 3 a.m. to the rear of the home engulfed in flames.
Jillian, a senior at the University of Michigan, and Lindsay, a freshman at Tulane, never made it out, leaving their parents “broken” and their brother “haunted.”
Pamela and Peter Miller, the owners of the Sag Harbor home, did not respond to a message seeking comment.
The family later learned the home’s outdoor kitchen, which they had tried to use in the hours before the fire, had never been inspected; the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms weren’t working, and the home had multiple violations from the town of Southampton, according to court papers.
The Wieners booked through a popular website that lets vacationers rent residential properties. HomeAway sent the family an email stating the owner of the Spring Lane house said there were smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, a fire extinguisher, and a first aid kit, among other safety features, the suit says.
“This is as reckless a situation as you can find,” said the family’s attorney, Andres Alonso. “This didn’t need to happen and it happened because everyone decided they were going to take shortcuts.”
A spokeswoman for VRBO, which owns HomeAway, declined comment on the litigation. Pamela Miller did not respond to a message seeking comment.
