TRENTON — Some 200 residents of the Luther Towers apartment building who have been locked out of their homes since a fire two days ago were told today that they will not be allowed back in until next week at the earliest.
Firefighters emptied the 12-story building late Wednesday after an explosive electrical fire in the basement that knocked out power in the senior housing complex, disabling air conditioners and sending out choking smoke.
“We are working on the building as we speak. We do not believe the work will be done for the next four to five days,” Trenton Mayor Tony Mack said at an afternoon press conference at Joyce Kilmer Elementary, where many residents are being sheltered. “We are estimating the work will be done sometime in the latter part of next week.”
Mack said 95 people are staying at the school, down from 109 yesterday. A number of others have been camped outside Luther Towers, despite the withering heat. Mack said the residents would be lodged in hotel rooms beginning tonight.
Cleveland Thompson, the city’s acting inspections director, said the adminstration would conduct a thorough investigation of the building to ensure its safety before residents came home.
That process has added to the length of time the evacuees will have to wait, he said.
“The owner (of the building) engaged the services of an electrical contracting company, which, in turn, engaged the services of an electrical testing company to test the system to make certain that it is in good operation condition, because of the explosion that took place,“ Thompson said.
“Upon carrying out the test, they discovered that the system has some serious faults,” he said. “One leg (of the system) is badly oxidized, so they won’t be able to energize the system that is there presently.”
However, a representative of the building owner, Alma Trenton LLC of Long Island City, N.Y., blamed the city’s inspections process for hindering repairs, which he said could have been completed by now.
“We should have repairs completed by the end of the day,” said Abraham Philip, controller for Alma Trenton LLC.
“It was supposed to be finished yesterday, but the city gave us a hard time,” Philip said. “The city gave us violations and said the electrician is supposed to be a local guy, so we had to stop and find somebody. We were ready to have it fixed. This was an emergency, but that is why it has taken so long.”
Previous coverage:
• Trenton apartment tower to get power back following fire and evacuation
• Trenton 12-story senior apartment building fire forces evacuation of 200 residents
