Residents eager to return to apartment building after fire
Feb. 16—WILKES-BARRE — Roger Lizak said he was comfortable as he slept in his truck after being evacuated from the B'nai B'rith Senior Apartments due to a fire on the second floor Thursday night.
Others were not as fortunate.
Video of the evacuation showed many residents being escorted in wheelchairs without coats, jackets or sweaters wearing short-sleeve shirts and pajamas into frigid temperatures and light snow.
Lizak and resident Steven Borick are eager to return to their apartments after the fire that critically injured one woman and possibly killed a dog named Pepper.
Lizak and Borick said they did not seriously react to a fire alarm as they said the alarm frequently goes off due to other residents smoking or burning food while cooking.
Borick said he grabbed his coat in his fourth floor apartment and went to the first floor community room where 15 to 20 other residents had gathered. Lizak remained in his 12th floor apartment not wanting to leave.
The two men said they were ordered to evacuate by firemen.
"These alarms, they're always going off for whatever reason," Lizak said. "When we began to smell smoke, I checked on my neighbor whose wife just had heart surgery and he was saying he couldn't get his wife up off the floor."
Lizak said he helped his neighbor before returning to his apartment and placed a towel at the door only to be told to get out. Lizak said he grabbed his medications and went to his truck, which he slept in.
Borick called a family member and stayed at their residence in Hunlock Township overnight.
"A few minutes after getting to the community room, it began to fill with smoke," Borick said. "Thank God I grabbed my coat. I feel bad for for the people who had to go outside without coats."
As city firefighters responded to the 12-story apartment building at East Northampton and South Washington streets, Borick said there were residents yelling from their windows for help.
Several people were removed through windows by firefighters using aerial ladder trucks, Borick said.
During the evacuation, residents were taken across the street to Allied Services to get them out of the cold while the Northeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross set up a shelter at GAR Memorial Middle School.
Wilkes-Barre City Deputy Fire Chief Alan Klapat said Friday afternoon more than 100 residents were evacuated and 55 remained at the shelter. Nineteen residents were taken to hospitals, Klapat said.
Contractors were at B'nai B'rith Friday morning as was the city fire inspector. Klapat said a "walk through" will be conducted either late Friday or Saturday before residents are permitted to return.
A window was smashed with smoke damage visible to the exterior of the building, where the fire is believed to have originated on the second floor.
Lizak was near the fire damaged window waiting for information if he can return to his apartment. He said he was comfortable sleeping in his truck, falling asleep about 2:30 a.m. only to be awakened by his nurse with a phone call at 8 a.m.
"It's a good insulated truck, wasn't cold at all," Lizak said. "I just hope my neighbors are okay."
Firefighters from Kingston-Forty Fort and Hanover Township assisted as mutual aid with emergency medical agencies from Plains Township, Hanover Township, Back Mountain Regional, Greater Pittston, Nanticoke and Geisinger Medical Facility.
