Residents still displaced months after fire destroyed Harrison apartment building

It's been 106 days since a fire displaced all the residents at 3 Calvert St. and they all had to scramble to find a temporary home on their own dime.

News 12 Staff

Mar 9, 2023, 1:14 AM

Updated 653 days ago

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Residents at a Harrison apartment building are still displaced months after a fire tore through their building.
It's been 106 days since a fire displaced all the residents at 3 Calvert St. and they all had to scramble to find a temporary home on their own dime.
Carol Summa has been paying almost double her rent to stay at a motel.
“I’ll be sleeping in my truck in another month or less, I can't survive like this,” she says.
No one is allowed back in the building because the village attorney says that the landlord must install sprinklers throughout the building.
“They will not issue a certificate of occupancy until the sprinklers are done,” says resident Lisa Pierce.
The landlord at the building, Ed DiLaurentis, says although there's no building code or law that requires them to install these sprinklers, they have agreed to do so.
They tell News 12 that they have a meeting with their contractor​ to discuss the installation but for these residents it's too little too late
“The mayor said, ‘I'm not going to lie to you, your landlord has not filed for this…that's why you can't live in your building,” says resident Samantha Scullion.
Every day that passes by with no change to the building, is another night at a motel.
"I'm paying at the motel and no one cares...I’m struggling and I'm a senior citizen and it's not right,” Summa says.