An attorney for the family of three firefighters killed in a 2016 blaze asked a federal judge late Monday to keep a civil rights lawsuit against Wilmington officials alive, arguing that the city’s controversial “rolling bypass” policy had put the workers in harm’s way.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Thomas S. Neuberger said in a court filing that two former mayors and fire chiefs had broken a union contract and violated a city budget statute requiring 172 uniformed firefighter positions to be filled and fully funded at all times. Though the officials knew about the danger for months, they repeatedly misled City Council about the need to staff the vacancies, Neuberger argued.