NL apartment building condemned; residents return to see damage

New London — Fire investigators are focusing on a third floor unit in the Parkside West apartments, which burned Tuesday night, leaving several dozen residents homeless.

Fire Marshal Calvin Darrow said 34 of the 37 units at 283 Willetts Ave., were occupied, and that all residents were evacuated safely.

Fire officials at the scene Tuesday said three were taken to the hospital. There were no reported firefighter injuries at the three-alarm blaze.

One person was treated and released at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, a spokesman said, one person was admitted and is listed in good condition, and no information was available on the third person.

Darrow said the investigation is focusing on a third floor unit. The entire third floor of the building appears to be gutted. Windows are smashed. Some vinyl siding melted away, dangling from the building.

A helium happy birthday balloon could be seen floating by a broken window on the second floor.

Fire investigators early this morning could be seen in a third floor apartment. They would occasionally toss soot and ash out of the window. Glass could be heard shattering.

Darrow said there were hallway separator doors that were closed and prevented the fire and smoke from spreading.

He said all fire alarm and smoke detectors appeared to be working.

He said in the third floor apartment in question, where the fire is believe to have started, a weather strip prevented the door from closing, causing the smoke to spread.

The building was constructed in the 1970s prior to fire code mandates, New London building official Jack Cipriano said.

A permit was issued in 1998 to "re-roof" the building, which Cipriano interpreted as reshingling, so no additional fire safety measures would have been required, he said.

Reginald McClellan and Anissa Mrowka live in apartment B-8, directly below the apartment where they said the fire started.

McClellan said that he and Mrowka went to Stop & Shop around 9:30 p.m. to rent a movie.

As he was heading to the grocery store, he thought he smelled something funny but really didn't pay any attention to it.

When they arrived back about 15 minutes later, they said flames were shooting from the kitchen window of their neighbor's apartment, C-8.

"They wouldn't let anyone back in at that point," said McClellan. "I came back to see if I could get back in and see if I could save anything but from the looks of it there won't be much left."

Mrowka said the Red Cross has set them up at the Red Roof Inn for two days and after that they don't know what they are going to do.

"Twelve hours ago I had somewhere to live and now I'm homeless," said Mrowka. "The flames just spread so fast."

About a dozen Red Cross volunteers were at the scene Wednesday morning, escorting tenants one at a time into the building.
McClellan and Mrowka were able to see their apartment.

"It's worse than I thought," said McClellan. "There is water damage on everything. We just bought a new couch and it's destroyed."

Shawn Hazard, who had to be rescued by firefighters out of his third-floor apartment window, was still in shock.

"The reality hasn't even sunk in," said Hazard.

Hazard was eventually allowed into his apartment.

Afterwards he could be heard saying, "There is nothing left to save."
Helle Bockman also had to be rescued from another third-floor apartment.

She came back to see if her two cats, Max and Kit Kat, survived.
When she was allowed into her apartment, the cats were alive but scared and soaked.

"I really had no hope of finding them," said Bockman. "There is nothing left to save in my apartment. The ceiling had caved in."

Not all apartments were severely damaged.

Cynthia Goins, who lives in a first floor apartment, said her apartment was intact expect for a few wet clothes in her closet.

Goins' cat, Oreo, was waiting for her at the front door.

"I'm going to be staying with my mom for now," said Goins. "I've got to figure things out."

Garth Brown, owner of the apartment complex, said he purchased the building about five years ago.

He said he was not able into enter the building to see the extent of the damage.

"We have good tenants," said Brown. "I'm upset with the situation and worried for them as well."

Brown said there were fire stops in the roof, which he said prevented the fire from spreading on one side the building.

He said the complex has studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments.

He estimated that there were about 50 tenants.

Brown said it was too soon to say whether he would rebuild. The building has been condemned by city officials and he was waiting for an insurance adjuster to tell him if the building was salvageable or a total loss.

Brown hired Servpro to help board upand clean up the building. He also said security will be on hand 24 hours a day to make sure the building and the tenants' belongings are safe.

The fire started just before 10 p.m. Firefighters said people were hanging out of windows on all sides of the building when the first crews responded.

The last fire crews left the scene at 4:13 this morning.

Sue Rochester-Bolen, senior director of emergency services for the Connecticut chapter of the American Red Cross, said the Red Cross arrived at the scene shortly after the fire.

A South East Area Transit bus was called in by city officials to transport residents to the Senior Center on Broad Street.

Rochester-Bolen said early this morning the Red Cross had so far assisted 18 families, which includes 26 adults and five children.

The center closed around 3 a.m. when they finished processing the last family.

"We were making sure that everyone had a safe place to go," said Rochester-Bolen. "Most people were going to stay with family and friends. We are also making sure that they have food and clothes and that there medical needs are met."

The last time the Red Cross responded to a fire of this magnitude was nearly two years ago when a fire in Norwich destroyed an apartment complex and displaced 150 people.

Rochester-Bolen said the Red Cross learned valuable lessons from that experience.

They learned to hand out numbers to people, much like a deli counter, so there is no chaos.

She also said they learned how to work with fire officials and emergency management at the scene so that everyone is on the same page.

"I think everything worked out really well so far," said Rochester-Bolen. "And today we know we are going to be helping out more families."

City Manager Martin Berliner, who was at the fire scene until about 2:30 a.m., said city workers and the Red Cross did exceptional jobs.

"From the police to the fire department to the recreation department to the Red Cross, everyone had a role and performed admirably,'' he said. "Obviously it was a disaster, but I'm very pleased with the way it went."