FRANKLIN, Ind. (WISH) — Just days after a massive fire tore through an apartment complex in Franklin, there’s now hope for the 55 people that were displaced.
The fire destroyed a building under construction, and the adjacent building, where the residents lived, sustained water and smoke damage.
“We’re hoping that in the next 72 to 96 hours that we can have all the residents back in their apartments,” Compass Park CEO Mike Spencer told News 8.
The residents of Compass Park are temporarily living with family or at a hotel. The staff who were checked for smoke inhalation on Friday are now cleared to come back to work.
Spencer says the renovations are almost 90% complete. The apartment that caught fire was vacant and set to open in a few months.
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“That was a $20 million dollar construction project, so we have that dollar. We know that several of the contractors, subcontractors had equipment, tools on that outside that’s pretty much all lost. We have no idea the value of that,” Spencer said.
The fire started early Friday morning, but fire crews battled hotspots on the property until Saturday morning. The cause of the fire has not been determined and an investigation will start in a few weeks.
“There’s so many people in this investigation. You have not only the contractor, the Compass Park, all the trades, that there will be one big investigation done at a later date,” Franklin Fire Department Chief Joshua Snyder said.
Snyder and Spencer say the community really came together to make sure those displaced were taken care of with monetary donations.
“There is a fund that has been started to help with the displaced residents, etc, and the response to that has been good,” Spencer said.