14 Columbia apartment complexes must make changes to meet fire code by November

ABC 17 News continues to follow a story about safety in some Columbia rental properties.

In April, a fire at Ash Street Place Apartments forced 60 residents to re-locate.

Ash Street Place Apartments was one of 30 complexes that were not up to current fire code in April.

Those complexes did not have required manual pull station alarms.

ABC 17 News obtained a copy of the updated list Tuesday and found 14 of those 30 still have not made any changes.

They have until November before the one-year grace period from the Columbia Fire Department expires.

Only four complexes have actually installed the pull alarms.

Some properties have met with fire officials and have submitted their plans to fix the problem, but others have yet to take any action.

“Fourteen of the properties that remain, we have not heard from,” said Battalion Chief Brad Fraizer.

Fraizer told ABC 17 News he is concerned about the properties that have not even contacted fire officials at all since the day they were issued the warning in Nov. 2012.

ABC 17 News talked to an Ash Street Place Apartment representative Tuesday to see if they had started the process to get the pull alarms installed.

The representative told ABC 17 News that the buildings were up to code and that the fire department put out the wrong information.

But Fraizer gave ABC 17 News a copy of the certified letter he sent to the Ash Street Place Apartments property managers listing the things that needed to be verified to put the building up to code.

“As of yet, we haven’t seen anything definitive,” Fraizer said.

ABC 17 News also visited Tiger Village Apartments. Employees there said they were up to code, but are not yet, according to the fire department.

Current residents at Ash Street Place Apartments said they were concerned that it is taking management so long to fix the issue.

“My biggest concerns are, if there’s a fire, then we will need to alert anybody that’s around as fast as possible, and there’s no access to that,” said resident Anthony Pals.

Fraizer said if property managers do not work with the fire department to comply with the current fire code by November, the cases will be turned over to the city prosecutor.