An apartment fire at 312 Utica Circle that was allegedly set deliberately heavily damaged one home, and other residents in the eight-unit building were displaced during the Thanksgiving weekend. (Photos by Tom Scott)
ORFD chief says Utica Circle fire was set
Power has been restored to an Applewood Apartments building on Hillside Road after a Thanksgiving Day electrical short displaced two dozen residents, and most of another two dozen residents can move back into McKenzie Acres apartments on Utica Circle, two days after they were displaced by a Saturday night fire, city officials said Monday.
The two fire calls in three days displaced about 50 people during the Thanksgiving weekend. The Red Cross has helped the residents with food and shelter, and residents and restaurants have pitched in as well.
The city hoped to get the residents back into their buildings today, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said Monday afternoon.
Kerley said the Utica Circle fire was started deliberately.
“It was a set fire,” he said. “We just don’t know who set it yet.”
Late Monday afternoon, Jake Martin, Oak Ridge electrical and mechanical inspector, said the apartment at 312 Utica Circle has extensive fire damage, and the one below it has severe water damage and will need repairs. But residents can move back into the other six units in the eight-unit building in the 300 block of Utica Circle, said Martin, who was working with ORFD Assistant Chief Josh Waldo.
A small electrical fire at the Applewood Apartments on Hillside Road on Thursday displaced about two dozen residents. Above, Oak Ridge Fire Department Battalion Chief Marty Griffith talks to residents.
Meanwhile, a licensed electrician from Knoxville restored service at the Applewood Apartments building at 184 Hillside Road, and the city inspected the building today and planned to restore power and let tenants move back in, Martin said.
Monday evening, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said power was restored at Applewood at 4 p.m. after a critical walk-through and the electrical repairs.
“We think there was a hot spot that caused some melting and smoke around the wiring coming into the building,” Watson said of the Hillside Road fire call at noon Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. “That’s what we surmised.”
Watson said the ongoing concerns about other code enforcement issues at Applewood, including previous concerns about structural issues, will be handled separately.
“That’s going to be a separate case that (we’re) going to deal with,” he said.
Four of the 13 Applewood Apartment buildings are inactive right now, and there is a January legal hearing involving Applewood, he said. The city and Applewood Apartments owner Joe Levitt have been engaged in a long-running legal dispute over code enforcement concerns at the complex on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle.
Note: This story was updated at 7:26 p.m.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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