Following a series of intentionally set fires at the New Hope Apartments supportive housing shelter in downtown Peoria, residents are being allowed to stay in the building with around-the-clock fire watch teams on patrol.
The latest fire overnight Tuesday rendered the shelter’s fire alarm system useless, raising concerns the tenants would need to be displaced.
Peoria Community Development Director Joe Dulin confirmed the city never ordered the residents to leave. Instead, the plan to use the 24-7 fire watch crews was put in place.
“The community development staff met the fire department staff on Wednesday. The fire department expressed an uneasiness with the safety concerns they had at that building because of the fire alarm system,” said Dulin. “But we also all acknowledge too that it's winter, it's negative-2 [degrees] out, and the last thing you want to do is shut that building.”
Dulin said staff members from Phoenix Community Development Services, which operates the shelter, manned the fire watch crews Wednesday, and would do so again Thursday night with operational support from the American Red Cross of Illinois.
“Our hearts go out to everyone that has been impacted by the recent fire at New Hope Apartments,” Red Cross spokesperson Jayce Eustice said in a statement. “At the Red Cross, we continually see how truly devastating home fires can be and understand the toll they take on each individual who is impacted.
“Since being notified of the fire, the Red Cross has been working with state and local agencies as well as other community organizations to determine how to best serve the residents of the New Hope apartment building.”
Eustice said many specifics of the Red Cross response are still being finalized.
Dulin said a third-party fire watch team and a security guard from a private firm also are assisting the effort, adding he thinks the Red Cross will provide temporary assistance for the next two weeks.
“City staff is working for a solution after the 14 days with Phoenix, about hiring a private security firm who will be able to do the fire watch,” said Dulin. “We think we'll be able to find someone; the struggle has been just this happening so quickly, which is why Phoenix has had to do it themselves.”
Following an October fire at the apartment building, Dulin said Phoenix began working to get the fire alarm system fixed and started the process of submitting an insurance claim. He said the city is working with them to determine a timeline for getting a fire alarm installer to repair the system.
“Unfortunately, they think it may be six to eight weeks to actually get that, once a contract would be signed. So a fire watch would have to necessarily, probably be in place until that happens,” he said.
“We think maybe they can do some floor by floor [monitoring], and we can pull it back a little. But one of those two things have to be in place, and so it's probably a month or two timeline before we might be able to get the fire alarm fixed.”
