Some displaced residents overwhelmed after South Burlington fire

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - More than 50 South Burlington residents are still displaced from their homes more than a week after a fire ripped through part of the building they lived in.

One resident who is currently staying in a nearby hotel says the uncertainty about what’s next is overwhelming.

“A lot of people, you know, they’re really scared we have to find another place to live, whether it’s permanent, whether it’s temporary,” said Monica Mello, who has been in a hotel room for more than week after she and dozens of other residents were forced from their South Burlington apartments at the Northern Meridian Complex. “I tried to help some people coming out because some people didn’t even have shoes on and they had walkers and things like that. My neighbor and I went out and we could see the fire at the other end. We went back and forth yelling, ‘Get out! Get out.’”

South Burlington fire officials have concluded their investigation into the fire, saying they’re certain it started on the fourth-floor balcony and burned heavily through the attic and third floor.

“That tells us that when it started, it wasn’t discovered immediately. Given growth and development of a fire, probably started anywhere between five and ten minutes before the fire department was even called,” South Burlington Deputy Fire Chief Terry Francis said.

Francis says they are still working with third-party investigators with greater technology to determine a specific cause, and would not speak to what they believe caused it.

In the 44-unit building, he says all of the units have some level of water damage, one-third have smoke damage and only five or six have fire damage. But right now, the building is not safe for residents.

“Water weighing eight pounds per gallon-- and you do the multiplications-- there’s a lot of weight in that building that has to come through the structure. And then, somebody has to go back and check the trusses and all to make sure that we’re not potentially sending these people into a collapse hazard,” Francis said.

In the meantime, residents like Mello say they’re trying to remain optimistic.

“It’s very inconvenient,” Mello said, “but for me-- you know, my things are OK.”

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