Some fire victims fortunate; others 'lose everything'

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By CORY MATTESON / Lincoln Journal Star

A maintenance worker unlocked Apartment 13, then walked through the place and to the smoke-stained balcony.

He leaned out the sliding glass door and asked where Michael R. Adams’ wallet might be.

“Behind the couch,” Adams called out from behind the yellow caution tape on the ground outside.

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Residents were not allowed into the Thomasbrook apartment building destroyed by fire as late as Monday morning. Here, Lincoln Fire and Rescue fire inspector Damon Robbins works in an entrance. (Robert Becker)

Residents were not allowed into the Thomasbrook apartment building destroyed by fire as late as Monday morning. Here, Lincoln Fire and Rescue fire inspector Damon Robbins works in an entrance. (Robert Becker)

The worker found it and came down the stairs� with a bag of clothes, the wallet and Adams’ keys.

The wallet was still moist, the bills inside soaked. The rings on the key chains had all rusted. To Adams, they were two damp clues that suggested what happened to the rest of his and his roommate’s belongings in the aftermath of a Saturday morning fire at the Thomasbrook Apartments building at South 60th and Lillibridge streets.

“Everything’s (damaged) from either water or smoke,” Adams, 21, said. “We’re just kind of winging it right now.”

Adams and Lauren Bulin, 23, were two of 40 displaced tenants left figuring out what to do when left with little to nothing.

“I’m just glad I decided to get insurance,” Adams said. He paid $110 for his policy and, because of it, he had a hotel room and grocery money.

Ten of the vacated 23 units were uninsured, said Bob Kelley, director of development and communications for the Cornhusker Regional Chapter of the American Red Cross. Thirteen chapter�  volunteers helped the displaced on Saturday, as well as�  emergency crews.

On Monday, the Thomasbrook staff continued to help the fire victims. A maintenance worker got Amy Willadsen’s Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office uniform and her fiance’s Lincoln Correctional Services uniform out of their apartment for them.

And after a news article about the fire mentioned that her wedding dress had been lost during the fire, friends at the sheriff’s office made a few calls and found a potential replacement.

It fit perfectly.

“I have a wedding dress again!” Willadsen said.� 

Maintenance workers zipped back and forth on golf carts, moving salvageable plasma screen TVs, printers and other electronics from the 24-unit building. One unit was vacant at the time of the fire.

Several displaced tenants toured vacant apartments on Monday. The floor plans are smaller than what the burned building offered, but more than half of those affected by the fire are going to move into them,�  property manager Donna Mann-Tucker said. They want to stay in the complex.

She said the tenants have seen the damage from the outside. On either Wednesday or Thursday, the burned building should be opened up to the residents, pending a safety inspection.

She and her staff have been working nonstop since Saturday morning. At 6:35 a.m. that day, her cell phone announced, “You have new picture mail!” Underneath the exuberant text was a photo of the apartment she manages, flames shooting skyward.

Since then, the front office, maintenance and cleaning staff have worked to help displaced tenants figure out the next step.

“This is the first time I’ve sat down,” leasing agent Amber Lardy�  said at about 4:30 p.m. Monday.

She and Mann-Tucker were both in the office on Monday when two young men who shared a unit told them they were uninsured, that they’d have to move back home.

“We’ve lost everything,” one of them said.

“We’re all in tears,” Mann-Tucker said. “There’s nothing we can do.”

Reach Cory Matteson at 473-7438 or cmatteson@journalstar.com.