PEORIA — Panic and uncertainty gripped the residents of a supportive housing homeless shelter in Downtown Peoria on Thursday after a third intentionally set fire at New Hope Apartments broke the building’s fire alarm system.
Residents of the building had worried Thursday morning they might have to leave after the city of Peoria deemed it was unsafe without a working fire alarm system. However, city officials and outreach teams worked Wednesday night and Thursday to make sure that no one had to be put out on the street.
Peoria Community Development Director Joe Dulin told the Journal Star that the city at no point ordered people to leave the building, contrary to other media reports. Instead, the city worked with Phoenix Community Development, which operates New Hope Apartments, to establish a 24-hour fire watch team to monitor the building in lieu of a working fire alarm system, allowing residents to stay.
Dulin said staff from Phoenix Community Development operated the fire watch Wednesday night and the city found a security guard from a private firm to assist. On Thursday, a third-party fire watch team was found, and the Red Cross will set up operational support at New Hope to help alleviate staffing concerns, Dulin said.
“The problem with that is Red Cross is only a solution for about 10 to 14 days, but that does buy us time to try and find a permanent security company to be able to provide the fire watch, and that’s what we will continue to work on,” Dulin said.
Peoria Fire Chief Shawn Sollberger said Thursday, too, that no one will be displaced because a third-party fire watch team has been established to monitor the building while its fire alarm system is not working. Sollberger said the city is continuing to work to make sure no one is displaced from this situation.
“The city is working with their staff to make sure nobody is displaced. There’s a lot of bad information going around right now. Nobody is displaced, there’s a fire watch in place by New Hope and a third-party provider until they can get the fire alarm system functioning,” Sollberger told the Journal Star.
New Hope Apartments, a supportive housing building for people experiencing homelessness, had a small fire earlier this week that led to city officials realizing the building’s fire alarm and suppression systems were not working properly. Sollberger said there have been three intentionally set fires at the building in recent months and at least one tenant believed to have set fires has been removed. Those incidents led to the fire alarm system sustaining severe water damage, rendering it useless.
“We’re really trying to isolate the problem so right now we are really focused on making sure that New Hope and the tenants are taken care of, that the fire watch is in place and that we’re making multiple daily visits,” Sollberger said.
Dulin said the city and Phoenix have been in contact with a company to repair the fire alarm system and estimated it could take six to eight weeks to get it repaired. During that time, a 24-hour watch team would have to remain in place for the building to operate.
The city will spend the next 10 to 14 days searching for a long-term fire watch solution while the Red Cross is in town, Dulin said.
‘Panic’ and uncertainty for New Hope residents
While no one had to leave the building, the situation did, however, cause “panic” and uncertainty to hang over the heads of the 80 residents who live at the apartments as temperatures dip near zero degrees in Peoria.
Kshe Bernard, who leads the homelessness service non-profit LULA, told the Journal Star on Thursday that roughly 60 of those living in the building could have been left without shelter by Friday had a third-party watch team not been established.
Bernard said the establishment of a third-party watch team means the situation, which was developing rapidly, had “changed for the better” Thursday.
City officials, according to City Councilmember Tim Riggenbach, were still finding answers and working on solutions as of Thursday morning.
New Hope Apartments has had multiple major incidents relating to fires and sprinkler systems, Riggenbach said, including an arson in October that led to the building’s fire alarm system receiving significant water damage. Another fire on Wednesday made it apparent that the building’s fire alarm system was not working, according to an email sent to the City Council by city staff on Thursday.
“That’s where we are now, how do we keep these people safe while repairs are made to the system,” Riggenbach said.
The Peoria Fire Department, according to Riggenbach and Bernard, felt comfortable allowing the building to operate as long as there is a 24/7 fire watch team working in the building.
On Wednesday night, Phoenix had its own staff fill that role, Riggenbach said. Sollberger said a third-party had been found to work the fire watch team as of Thursday morning, meaning residents will be able to sleep in the building.
The Dream Center, another shelter in Downtown Peoria, had agreed to house the 11 women who were living at New Hope, Riggenbach and Bernard said. Shelter at Pathway Ministries had also been secured for 11 men, Bernard said.
The unfolding situation at New Hope Apartments comes in the wake of a decision made by the Trump administration last month to change its federal funding for homelessness services that had already left the homeless community in Peoria rattled with uncertainty.
“This is one of our permanent supportive housing units that houses some of our highest acuity folks, so of course with the weather on top of all the other news it’s really amplified systems and made our residents panic,” Bernard said.
Peoria Mayor Rita Ali said there will likely be a City Council action item related to this situation on Tuesday when the council meets.
This story will be updated as the situation unfolds.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: ‘Panic’ gives way to relief after fire at Downtown Peoria shelter
Reporting by JJ Bullock, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
