Alternative housing secured for city fire victims
That person moved into the unit without permission after the legitimate tenants moved out, owner
Although he was not ruling out civil action, Meron said, he didn't plan to press charges.
For now, he's focusing on the tenants who were displaced by the fire.
As of Tuesday afternoon, he had moved them all into alternative apartments.
"We're really able to accommodate people, I think, pretty quickly," Meron said. "It's not going to be normalcy but someplace to live at least and start over again."
STILL OFF LIMITS
The fire erupted in the apartment building around
The other four apartments suffered smoke and water damage, he said.
One had just been renovated and was not occupied.
Tuesday, the tenants still couldn't get inside to assess the damage to their belongings, but Meron, who owns 223 apartments under his company
At least one of the families had renters insurance, and at least two did not, Meron said.
Two of the tenants --
AGGRESSIVE ATTACK
Investigators determined that the blaze started in apartment D, where the unauthorized tenant had been squatting, but the exact cause was still under investigation, Lawliss said.
He called 911 to report the fire.
When firefighters arrived, heavy smoke was showing, fire was shooting from the first floor to the second, and the blaze had spread to the woods behind the apartments, the chief said.
"We used an aggressive interior attack," Lawliss said. "After we deemed that the floor was compromised above the fire and that the roof structure was damaged, we removed occupants and used a defensive aerial attack."
All departments were back in service by
WILL REBUILD
Meron plans to rebuild, but it was still too early to determine when that might happen, he said.
He said he would send an engineer in to assess the damage and start the repair process as soon as the city gives its OK.
Meron experienced his own fire when his business, the
"I'm very sympathetic to it," he said. "It's a hard thing for those people to go through. It's very traumatizing."
Email
Twitter: @BobBennett3
HOW TO HELP
Women's medium tops and size 4/5 pants.
Newborn baby boy clothes.
Boys size 10/12 clothing.
Boys shoes, size 1.
Boys clothing, size 2T-3T.
A drop-off location for donations has yet to be determined.
Contact Clifford with questions: 518-593-0236.
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