Many residents still displaced by apartment fire on Madison's Southwest Side

Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI)

Apr. 26--A week after a fire destroyed 24 apartments in the Tucson Trails complex on Madison's Southwest Side, many of the displaced residents remain in temporary lodgings.

Of the tenants whose homes became uninhabitable, 38 were put up in a local hotel by the American Red Cross, according to public affairs volunteer Dan Schillinger. As of Friday, 25 of the displaced residents -- including seven children -- were still staying in the hotel.

"Some have already found new homes, but many were told the new apartments aren't available until May 1," he said.

About 75 tenants lost their homes in the April 18 fire. Madison firefighters encountered "heavy smoke and flames coming from the third floor and roof," according to an incident report.

It took most of the afternoon to put the fire out, as heavy winds caused it to flare back up several times, the Fire Department said. Damage was estimated at $750,000.

It's still unclear how the fire started.

"The investigation into this fire is ongoing," said Fire Department spokeswoman Cynthia Schuster.

Though nobody was hurt, several displaced residents have described substantial hardship and material losses on the crowdfunding website GoFundMe.com.

"Our apartment on the third floor burned down," said resident Dina Terskikh. "Everything we worked for and put our souls into is gone. My art, memorable things from childhood are [irreplaceable] and gone forever."

The Red Cross is continuing to provide meals and personal care items to affected residents through donations, Schillinger said.

Local churches, businesses, neighbors and strangers have also stepped forward to help, said Julie Haas, office manager of Tucson Trails.

Haas had lived on-site for about 10 years before losing her apartment in the fire. Her renter's insurance is covering the cost of renting a hotel room, so she's not receiving assistance from the Red Cross. Acknowledging that looking for a new place during the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis isn't ideal, she said her search for a condo has been encouraging.

"There are definitely still places around," she said. "At least three or four of our tenants have already found new apartments. Some of them, of course, moved in with family."

A couple of displaced tenants were able to immediately fill vacancies in the Tucson Trails complex, Haas said. But others may have difficulty finding an apartment in the same price range.

"We have pretty decent three-bedroom apartments, but we're still on the lower end because they're older. They're more reasonable than a lot of the apartments in the area," she said. "A lot of the newer places are going to be more expensive, so that might make it more difficult."

Two missing cats returned to their owners' apartments the following day.

"They went back in on Sunday and looked into their units, and both cats were found," Haas said. "One was in a pantry and one was under a bed or something, so we were happy about that."

Residents have finished collecting belongings from their ruined apartments, and demolition of the third floor of the building has already begun, Haas said. The rest of the structure will probably be torn down to the studs and rebuilt.

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