Asbestos found in Jacksonville high rise apartment that caught fire

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — UPDATE, 12/21/17, 2:30 p.m.: Jacksonville Townhouse Apartments management confirms that trace amounts of asbestos were discovered during the post-fire cleanup.

Cambridge Management says they've contracted with an asbestos cleanup provider & will put displaced residents up in hotels in meantime.

Management sent Action News Jax the following statement:

Ensuring the safety and comfort of our residents is our top priority as we continue to address the situation at our facility. The timeline for residents to return remains in flux, so we have proactively decided to move all residents still in the shelter to local hotel accommodations, many with kitchenette facilities and private bathrooms where their comfort can be ensured while cleanup operations continue. Our full focus remains on minimizing the impact to our residents. We recognize the hardship this situation presents, particularly as we enter the holiday season, and are working to resolve the situation as soon as possible.
 
During the cleanup process, trace amounts of asbestos were discovered at the facility, requiring a different form of cleanup operations be engaged. We have contracted with a licensed asbestos cleanup provider to ensure compliance with all applicable regulations regarding asbestos abatement. The cleanup process will continue aggressively until we are completely satisfied our residents will be safe and comfortable upon return to their homes. In the interim, every resident will have hotel accommodations made available to them should they require it.

Original story below:

An Action News Jax Investigation uncovered there was no documentation that the Jacksonville apartment that caught fire on Monday was conducting required “fire watch” patrols.

Now Jacksonville Townhouse Apartments’ 200 tenants are homeless and six people are injured.

“I was one of the last ones out because they had to bring me down, because I’m a bilateral amputee,” said tenant Pamela Sands, who is now staying at American Red Cross’s makeshift shelter at a nearby church. “I didn’t think I was going to get out."

The building had a broken fire pump.

The Fire Marshal’s Office instructed Cambridge Management in a Dec. 1 email to either evacuate or start an hourly fire watch.

Jacksonville Fire Marshal Chief Kevin Jones told Action News Jax that the building’s management was supposed to keep a log of the fire watch until the fire pump was fixed.

Jones said that log should have included who conducted the required hourly patrol, and when.
Jones said apartment management was not able to provide any such documentation.

"If there were damages that could have been prevented, they would then become culpable or responsible for those additional damages," said Action News Jax Law and Safety Expert Dale Carson. "You have a duty to provide a safe, habitable place for people to live. And if you fail in that effort, then you are culpable. You can be sued to recover damages."

Cambridge Management told the fire marshal it would replace the building’s broken fire pump the day before Monday morning’s fire injured six people.

But city records show there was no permit filed to do the work.

On Tuesday, Action News Jax also uncovered there’s no record that HUD performed its required inspection of the building this year.

Cambridge Management also manages 126 properties across the country.

Ten are in Jacksonville.

All 10 are either HUD housing or receive Jacksonville Housing Authority vouchers.

Action News Jax has requested the most recent HUD inspections for all of the company’s Jacksonville HUD properties. Those records will show how those properties are scoring and whether the inspections required by law to keep vulnerable people safe are actually happening.

Cox Media Group