Illinois State University students picking up the pieces after Sugar Creek Apartments fire

Mar. 4—NORMAL — Roommates Gabby Del Real and Jennifer Wardrop picked through piles of insulation littering the bedroom floors of their apartment.

Their beloved two-bedroom home overlooking Sugar Creek, once a place where they shared memories with neighbors and friends, now smells heavily of smoke, the walls and ceiling littered with holes from where firefighters busted through drywall to fight a devastating fire.

"It's honestly been really hard mentally," said Del Real, a 21-year-old ISU student studying medical laboratory science. "Every aspect, it's just been very hard to move on."

Nearly three weeks since a Feb. 13 fire destroyed 12 units at Sugar Creek Apartments and displaced dozens, residents are still trying to return to a sense of normalcy.

For Del Real and Wardrop, that means picking up what was salvageable — some clothes and personal items — and attempting to put the fire behind them as they prepare for graduation.

Though their top-floor apartment wasn't destroyed in the fire, the bedrooms shared a firewall and sustained substantial smoke damage. Responding Normal firefighters also broke down parts of the drywall in attempt to put out the spreading flames.

Fire displaces dozens

Del Real, already recovering after contracting COVID-19, was just leaving her apartment Feb. 13 when she came across a police officer outside her building. She was still unable to smell from her bout with COVID, but the officer told her of a growing fire in the building, which was being evacuated.

"I went and knocked on doors and got everybody out," Del Real said, adding that she sat in her car and watched building burn for several hours. "I was just numb. I couldn't react because I was watching it. I had to keep myself together because I knew everyone around me was freaking out."

Crews battled the flames for hours amid freezing temperatures before the fire was put out. Investigators later said repair work inside a lower level of the three-story building caused the afternoon fire.

"The fire departments are heroes," said Ulises Napoles, vice president of First Site, which owns the 606 S. Linden St. complex. "They were working in sub-zero temperatures to fight this blaze. The work they did is absolutely amazing."

Wardrop, a 22-year-old ISU senior studying environmental health, who was out of town to visit her boyfriend and family for the weekend, learned of the fire through Snapchat, a popular photo and messenger sharing app.

"It came so close to our apartment that if our firewall wasn't there, everything would have just burned," said Wardrop, who lost her bedding and several other items to smoke damage. "When I got back to ISU, I drove by Sugar Creek to see what it looked like. It was like a graveyard. It was really scary."

A total of 24 apartments, which mainly house Illinois State University students, were affected, said Napoles. Insurance adjusters are still estimating damages at this time, he said.

Community helps those in need

The day of the fire, volunteers with the American Red Cross were on site assisting residents as First Site employees began securing temporary housing at three Bloomington-Normal hotels, Napoles said.

In the first few days following the fire, Red Cross volunteers delivered meals to residents who had been displaced, said Lyn Hruska, executive director of the American Red Cross serving Central Illinois. The organization also provided financial assistance to 20 residents directly affected by the fire.

In the meantime, Napoles said First Site managed to identify fully-furnished apartments for residents to move into, and provided $200 gift cards to the residents of the 12 apartments that were total losses.

"I'm not stopping there," he said. "We're also going to be finding some more organizations to try to help our residents as much as we can."

First Assembly of God, 800 E. Vernon Ave., also raised $4,500 in donations to purchase gift cards for the 23 students who lost everything during the fire. The church, along with several local businesses, donated gift cards containing more than $280 for each student, along with goodie bags, and delivered them over the weekend.

"They're our neighbors and we wanted to help them in their time of need," said Angela Lopez, ministry assistant.

Returning to 'normal'

Nearly three weeks after the fire, residents are picking up the pieces and trying to return to some sense of normalcy — or as normal as it gets while attending virtual college during a pandemic.

Though many lost items to the fire and smoke, residents and family members said they were pleased with how First Site handled the response.

"Right away First Site was calling everybody," said Stacey Palka of Pekin, whose daughter Michaela, 21, was in one of the 12 apartments that lost everything to the fire. "We felt well taken care of by First Site, especially since they weren't obligated to do anything. Their first concerns were the kids' safety and well-being."

First Site placed the majority of the residents in furnished apartments similar to the ones they were already living in, but some students expressed frustration with accommodations.

Alex Neff, a 21-year-old ISU senior studying creative technology music, said he and his roommate had to negotiate to get comparable housing.

"I'm happy with what I got at the end of the day, but I know some people who were fed up or didn't want to negotiate or take the time to do it," he explained. "A lot of people went (to their parents') home and cut their losses."

Wardrop and Del Real are also trying to adjust, though they now live 20 minutes away from campus. And while they feel fortunate to have salvaged many of their clothing and some other items, the roommates said the situation has been tough for many students.

"I'm honestly so emotionally and mentally drained at this point," said Wardrop. "I just don't know how to feel. I'm very sad, honestly. I don't know any other words for it."

Wardrop later added, "I just want people to know that this fire severely impacted many of us ISU students."

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Contact Sierra Henry at 309-820-3234. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_sierrahenry.

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