Douglas Sheff, the senior partner of Sheff Law Offices, said the halt in demolition was sought “to preserve the rights of the victims and the families of those who tragically perished in the fire to find out what happened and to get the truth.”

“We have had many reports of non-functioning smoke detectors and electrical fires that occurred before this tragic fire,” Sheff told The Sun Monday evening. “How can we knock the building down without finding out what happened?

“How we can tell these families we never found out what the root cause of the fire was?” Sheff said his clients have told him both about a previous electrical fire in the residential units, as well as an electrical fire on the first floor of the liquor store.