Fire ravaged building called complete loss

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - An apartment building that was badly damaged by a fire earlier this week was deemed uninhabitable by the city's building commissioner Thursday, and it is now up to management to decide whether to rebuild it or tear it down.

Meanwhile, community groups have started gathering financial donations and holding food and clothing drives to help the displaced families, many of whom lost their pets in the blaze.

Building 21 at Meadowbrook Apartments lost its roof and the majority of the third floor in a fire Monday, leaving 22 residents in 12 units homeless. The fire, which fire officials said began in a second-floor apartment belonging to Leslea Duggan, is believed to have been caused by carelessly discarded smoking materials.

Building Commissioner Anthony Patillo, who reviewed the interior of the building the day after the blaze, said damage was so extensive that former tenants will not be allowed back inside anytime soon.

"We have decided that the building is too unsafe for any people to be let back inside of it," Patillo said. "It is just not suitable for any habitation, it isn't weather-tight because of the collapsed roof, the electrical system is totally gone and there is no alarm system. As far as I'm concerned the building is totaled."

Patillo said management has been contacting former tenants and arranging times for them to go inside the building for 15 minutes to gather any personal items that may have survived the fire.

"They had one round of people go in already on the lower floors, and they are planning on doing it again soon," Patillo said.

Now, Patillo said, it is up to management and their insurance company to decide whether or not to rebuild the fire-damaged structure or simply tear it down.

Alexandra M. Dailey, asset manager for Preservation of Affordable Housing Inc., the nonprofit organization that owns the apartment complex, said management has not made a final decision but is leaning toward razing the building.

"The insurance company has taken a look at it, and they are basically agreeing with the building commissioner in saying that the building has to come down," Dailey said. "The next step is finding out what it would cost to rebuild it - and it's a 12-unit building, so that would be pretty expensive."

The former tenants are being temporarily housed at the Clarion Hotel in Northampton, Dailey said, and will be relocated permanently when space is available.

"We had three three-bedroom families burned out of their homes, and we don't have any three-bedroom units available right now," Dailey said. "We are working with other agencies to relocate some of them, and right now I think we are set with knowing where at least half of the folks are going to go."

Dailey said management may also reconsider its current policy on smoking, which allows residents to smoke inside their apartments, a practice that many tenants at the complex feel makes living at Meadowbrook unnecessarily unsafe.

"There is not a no smoking policy right now," Dailey said. "We do not have any non-smoking buildings, and frankly that is definitely something that we will have to look at moving forward."

According to attorney Chris Banthin, who is associated with the Western Mass Smoke-Free Apartments advocacy group, landlords in Massachusetts have the right to prohibit smoking inside apartments whenever they want to, and making the switch can be as simple as changing the language in a tenant's lease when it is renewed.

"There is no protection under the law that allows people to smoke. It is not a protected right and it is not a protected disability," Banthin said. "It would be a problem if landlords kicked people out of their homes for being smokers, but they can certainly tell people that from now on they have to step outside."

Since the fire, several community groups have launched fundraising efforts to help the displaced tenants. Students at Leeds Elementary School have reportedly raised more than $1,200, and students at the R.K. Finn Ryan Road School are holding a food, blanket and clothing drive to support victims of the fire. Monetary donations and items can be dropped off at either location.

Also, Florence Savings Bank and the Salvation Army have begun accepting monetary donations to benefit the tenants who lost their homes in the fire. Interested residents are encouraged to drop off checks made payable to the Meadowbrook fire victims fund at any Florence Savings Bank or mail them to The Salvation Army, P.O. Box 188, Northampton, MA 01061.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.