WESTBOROUGH – It was a rough week for residents at the 293 building at the Arrive apartment complex on Turnpike Road.
On Monday, Dec. 9, there was a fire in a seventh-floor apartment unit. Fire personnel from several communities quickly extinguished the fire, but the resulting water damage forced the displacement of about 100 families.
Most of these families spent the next few days in local hotels, and received assistance from the Red Cross, Westborough Public Schools, Gurudwara Westborough NESSC and other agencies.
On Friday, Dec. 13, the families were notified by Arrive management that it had received approval from the town to reopen the building that afternoon.
When the families returned, they discovered fans, blowers and dehumidifiers in the corridors and their apartment units, all running at full blast.
According to a letter from Arrive provided to the Community Advocate, residents were told not to shut off the equipment.
“All drying equipment including fans and dehumidifiers must remain on 24 hours per day until our remediation partners at quality remove them. If equipment is turned off, you will be assuming all liability for any resulting damage,” read the letter.
A subsequent letter sent on Sunday afternoon told residents to keep the equipment running for six-eight hours per day.
Through the weekend, these families dealt with the noise and heat generated by these machines, which were plugged into portable generators outside of the building.
One tenant who did not want to be named used a decibel meter on his phone to show a reading of 101 decibels — well within the range where prolonged exposure could cause hearing damage.
The blowers and fans also generated a lot of heat.
“They are forcing us to stay in these conditions,” said another tenant who did not want his name to be used, who lives across the hall from where the fire took place.
In his apartment, seven blowers and fans were going. The carpet in his bedroom had been ripped out and, according to the tenant, mold was beginning to form.
The town’s fire and building departments conducted an inspection of the building. According to Fire Chief Patrick Purcell, the inspection included the life safety systems, including the sprinkler system, fire alarms and exit signs.
“We also inspected the egress paths within the occupancy and assured that an elevator was operational. Our extent of the inspection was in common areas such as hallways, stairwells and the lobby,” he said.
According to Purcell, the apartment that had the fire was sealed off by an insurance agency and was not accessible. All of the apartments below on the first to fifth floors were not authorized by maintenance to be reoccupied, he said.
“Neither the Fire Department or building commissioner inspected any individual units,” Purcell said. “Both the building commissioner and the fire chief were advised by a key management representative that tenants would be given an option to return home on Dec. 13 at noon or delay until Monday, Dec. 16.”
On Sunday, Dec. 15, the tenant emailed Jennifer Sullivan, the town’s director of public health. In an email provided by the tenant to the Community Advocate, she told him, “I agree, your unit is excessive and reached out to them this morning and asked them to place you in a hotel.”
Arrive management told the tenant it would compensate him for one night’s stay that Sunday.
On Monday, Dec. 16, after management inspected the area and began to remove the equipment, Sullivan and her team visited his apartment and visited other affected families.
“Her involvement in this matter has definitely alerted the leasing manager and fastened the restoration process,” said the tenant.
By that evening, his bedroom had new carpeting, and the blowers in his unit had been removed “although some of the them are still running in the hallway,” he said.
Although most of the blowers and dryers have been removed, repairs and replacements remain to be done.
In a letter to residents, Arrive management thanked them for their patience and understanding during the past week.
“Our hearts have been warmed by stories of residents helping one another and word of various local organizations offering assistance to those in need,” read the letter.
According to the town Community Development director Fred Lonardo, “The town is still actively involved at Arrive and we continue to monitor the situation.”
The Community Advocate reached out to Arrive for comment.
