Four Fires In One Chicago Apartment Complex: 'It's Pretty Scary'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- There have been four fires at the Eugenie Terrace Apartment Tower in the past few weeks.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reported Monday on who may be responsible.
A teenage boy will now be placed in Chicago's juvenile Firesetter Program, meant to educate young people caught starting small fires before they start.
"I'm mad. Others are mad. We want answers," said Colette Turner. She's angry because Sunday night there was another fire in her luxury apartment building overlooking Lincoln Park.
"I'm kind of freaked out by all of this," Turner lamented.
There have been four fires in the Eugenie Terrace Apartment Tower, at 1730 N. Clark St., since January 18.
"It's pretty scary. Scary when you look down and see firetrucks and you can smell smoke," said resident Michael Gagne.
Smoke that firefighters believe is the result of fires that were deliberately set by a teenage boy.
"It was a little nerve-racking being on the 19th floor and having the elevators shut down," added resident Graham Reinbold.
That happens because the elevators go into fire safety mode when fire is detected. Building managers said the teen has been permanently removed from the 500 unit property. Residents were informed by email.
"Hopefully it's resolved. That's all I can say," said resident Aaron Nowak.
Turner said she reached out to management after the second fire and basically heard nothing.
"It's disappointing. I expected better from them," she added, because she said running for her life down stairwells has been traumatizing.
"I actually jumped out, took the stairwell down, ran into smoke and had to switch stairwells to get out safely," Turner added.
The building managers said they didn't send out building-wide communications after the earlier fires because the Fire Department told them not to due to the small nature of the fires and due to the fact that the investigation was still underway.
