Cecilia Welch long dreamed of leaving Ohio for Alaska after her children were grown up, but a small room inside a shelter she shares with her friend and her dog is far from what she imagined.
“I had this great view of the Gastineau Channel, I loved it,” Welch said while sitting in a plastic chair outside St. Vincent de Paul Society’s temporary housing where she now lives. The only view she enjoys these days is of a dealership lot.
Welch lived in one of the eight units at the Channel View Apartments on Gastineau Avenue downtown that were affected by a fire April 10. Flames in one of the fifth-floor units created smoke and water damage for at least one unit on every floor below.
One of those units, Welch’s second-floor apartment, was initially OK’d for continued living until housing manager Tamme Martini said water damage was discovered in the walls. Welch had to leave while her unit underwent construction to remove any possibility of black mold.
“It’s been completely gutted, it makes no sense,” Welch said in an interview Wednesday. Unable to see the actual damage, save for some moisture on the walls and ceiling, she said she can’t understand why she had to leave and she has no idea why it’s taking so long to get her back home.
“It’s the not knowing,” housing manager Martini said, empathizing with the displaced tenants. “I can just feel their emotion and despair, wanting to get back home and get back to normal.”
[Seven families displaced after downtown apartment fire]
Martini said she keeps in constant contact with all of the families now living out of suitcases and plastic bags because of their displacement. Their frustration levels are building, and understandably so, Martini said, but St. Vincent’s employees are doing all they can at this point. The five remaining displaced families were given rooms to stay in at the Breakwater Inn hotel downtown, but for Welch that wasn’t a reasonable option.
Welch, 61, suffers from spinal stenosis, kidney failure and is battling reoccurring depression. Those ailments require she keep a certain diet that she manages by preparing home cooked meals. In a hotel without a stove or refrigerator, her only option was fast-food, which quickly heightened her health problems. She had to move into a room at the St. Vincent de Paul shelter with her roommate and her dog Roxanne. Now she has a stove, but it’s in a community kitchen across the hall. For someone living with multiple disabilities, even a trip across the hall can be stressful. Nothing, except two beds and clothes, is inside the room she estimates to be 10 feet long and 10 feet wide.
“I have to walk clear to the other end of the building to go to the bathroom that I have a key to,” Welch said. “For me, walking isn’t the best thing.”
[Firefighters respond to Channel View Apartments fire]
Martini admits the rebuild process has been extraordinarily long, but shipping materials for construction to Juneau is a lengthy process that she said can’t be avoided. Right now, contractors are waiting for cabinets to arrive. Most units already have floors and painted walls, but the actual move-in date is probably another four to five weeks out, Martini estimated.
Welch is less sure about that. She said he used to work in construction in Ohio and believes once the cabinets are in, counters will have to be ordered and that’s another eight weeks possibly. Martini said it’s her understanding the construction crew, North Pacific Erectors, will salvage the pieces already in the units and that should save them time and money.
[Nonprofit helps those affected by apartment fire]
After all the construction is done, Martini said she doesn’t expect her tenants’ pains to come to an end. Most of them lost all of their possessions to smoke and water damage, so while they might be returning to new cabinets, all the rooms will be empty. Everyone living at a Channel View apartments is on a limited income, and rebuilding their lives will likely be a challenge, Martini said.
St. Vincent de Paul is continuing to accept linens and other common household good donations at its main office at 8617 Teal St. for tenants displaced by the fire. Monetary donations can also be made at svdpjuneau.org, with a memo note that the donation is specifically for Channel View fire victims.
Welch said although she depends on a disability check to get by, she’s not asking for any donated furniture or other items. She just wants to go home to do what she intended to when she moved to Alaska — live out her remaining years in peace.
• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.
