Fire victims pick up the pieces

• Country Village fire aftermath

Upstairs tenant Sue Ellen Bone looks through the debris at the Country Village Apartments Thursday afternoon, following Wednesday’s fire which destroyed hers and another family’s living quarters and belongings. (Brian Korthals/Daily Glob)
• Apartment remnants

A child’s shoe, stuffed animal and a stroller are among the debris from the fire which destroyed two apartments at the Country Village Apartment complex in Worthington. (Brian Korthals/Daily Globe)

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• Fire Destroys Apartments

WORTHINGTON — A pillowcase waved slightly in the breeze as it hung from the blackened wood deck outside Sue Ellen Bone’s second floor apartment Thursday afternoon. Pressed sheets of plywood had been nailed to the building to cover patio doors and windows, and the charred remnants of couches, chairs, tables and children’s clothes were piled on the lawn outside the two units that sustained the most damage.

Bone was one of 45 residents of the Country Village Apartment complex displaced after fire ravaged through two apartments Wednesday afternoon on Knollwood Drive in Worthington.

A resident of the apartment complex for 20 years, Bone was at home when the fire broke out. She hadn’t been feeling well and didn’t go to work on Wednesday.

Early in the afternoon — at about 1:20 p.m. — Bone said she was watching television when she started seeing “weird cloud formations” outside her window. She then heard noises downstairs, and saw flames coming up through the floor of her balcony. By the time she got out of her unit, she could hear the glass windows starting to crack in her unit.

“I came out without my shoes on,” said Bone, adding that firefighters tossed a pair of shoes out through the patio doors for her to wear. “I left with what I had on my back.”

Bone said it wasn’t until after she’d already left her unit that she heard her fire alarm start to sound.

When she made it outside, Bone joined a growing group of her neighbors. They were kept on the north side of the building, away from the smoke that was carried by Wednesday’s strong winds.

“I didn’t want to see it anyway,” said Bone of her burning apartment. Later Wednesday afternoon, she was allowed into the unit to see the charred remains.

“It’s not pretty,” she said Thursday, after going through the unit with her insurance adjuster.

By the time he left, she had a stack of papers — her homework, she said — to compile a list of all of the belongings she lost in the blaze.

Thankful that no one was injured in the fire, Bone said she’s most saddened by the loss of sentimental things that can’t be replaced, like all of the paintings that hung on her wall — handmade treasures from her artistic grandfather.

Bone has been staying at a local motel since the fire, thanks to the assistance she received from the Red Cross. She has had several offers from friends for a place to stay or items to replace the furnishings she’s lost.

“My friends have been wonderful support,” she added.

Darlene Doeden sat outside the entrance to the apartment complex Thursday afternoon, making sure that only residents, insurance adjusters and contractors were allowed in.

“I came back today to get some more things,” said Doeden, who lived in the apartment directly north of the unit where the fire started. “We’re hoping to get in by Saturday afternoon.”

Doeden said she had mainly smoke and chemical smell in her unit.

“I have the windows open and the exhaust fan going,” she said. “It’s not real bad. I thought it would be worse than it is.”

Doeden, who has lived in the apartment complex for nearly eight years, said she is staying with a brother-in-law in Worthington until she is able to return to her home.

Local contractor Clair Van Grouw and some of his workers were on the scene Thursday to work with the electrical inspector and electricians to get power restored to most of the 24 units.

“We just about got them all up and running,” said Van Grouw, adding that there was concern about the contents in refrigerators in all of the units.

Van Grouw said it will be at least six to eight weeks before the two units with the most damage will be ready to be occupied again.

Red Cross response

Joyce Jacobs, executive director of the Southwest Minnesota Chapter of the American Red Cross, said their agency was called to the scene around 2 p.m. Wednesday. Within two hours, they had organized a meeting for the displaced residents at the Red Cross shelter site at American Reformed Church on North Burlington Avenue.

“Because of the number of people involved, we really felt like we needed to have a room and meet with them,” Jacobs said.

Nine Red Cross volunteers joined Jacobs to assist the families and individuals displaced by the fire, and one in particular was assigned to help a family with young children, as they had no diapers or formula for their infant.

“When you have a multi-family fire, you need several volunteers to come in,” said Jacobs. “Without my volunteers, I certainly couldn’t do this.”

Volunteers met with the residents at the shelter site late Wednesday afternoon, and by 7 p.m., all of the displaced residents had found temporary housing either with friends or family, or in a local motel.

“There were some that we needed to help make arrangements for,” Jacobs said. A meal was provided for all of the individuals and families before they left the church Wednesday night.

Those who lost most of their belongings in the fire received clothing to get them through the first 24 to 48 hours, and several of the residents received food allowances from the Red Cross.

Jacobs said she was prepared to open up the shelter Thursday night in case people needed a place to stay. Her concern was that those who opted for a motel room Wednesday night wouldn’t be able to do that for several nights in a row.

“It sounds like it may not be until Saturday until they get into their apartments again,” said Jacobs. “One apartment is pretty well gone, and the one above it has significant damage. The rest have a lot of smoke damage.”

While many of the residents are working with their own insurance agent, Jacobs said the Red Cross is assisting those who didn’t have insurance.

“It’s because of the donations we get that we can do this,” said Jacobs. “It’s important that people support the Red Cross so when things like this happen, we can support the people in need.

“The American public makes it possible for the Red Cross to be there,” she added.

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