By Gary Taylor
Orlando Sentinel (Florida)
Copyright 2007 Sentinel Communications Co.
SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Seminole County firefighters came to the rescue Wednesday of residents of an Altamonte Springs apartment complex who feared they would not be allowed to retrieve belongings before a fire-ravaged building was demolished.
When officials read in the Sentinel about what was happening after last week’s fire, they decided they had to do something, said Lt. Paula Ritchey, a Fire Department spokeswoman. Within hours, firefighters were scurrying from apartment to apartment -- floor to floor -- bringing out everything they could from the three-story building at Central Park Apartments.
“You could not believe it,” said Mary Alvarez, who had pleaded for days for someone to help her 77-year-old mother retrieve priceless photos from her first-floor apartment, which was not damaged.
Not only did they retrieve the only known photo of Sara Ann Alvarez’s mother, who died when she was 5, but they hauled out dining-room furniture. They couldn’t remove the bedroom furniture, so they just brought out the drawers from the dresser in the room, Mary Alvarez said.
“It was like a billion Christmases rolled up together,” she said, explaining the joy it brought her mother.
Most tenants had given up hope of retrieving their belongings after a company was hired to demolish the building. As word of the Fire Department’s action spread, tenants rushed to take advantage.
“Everybody was hugging each other,” Mary Alvarez said. “There was piles and piles of everybody’s stuff out in the parking lot.”
Twenty of the 24 apartments were occupied at the time of the fire, which was started by welders working in a stairwell, officials said. Firefighters were able to get belongings from 16 to 18 of the apartments, Ritchey said.