TRICIA CRUZ
WIVB
Reprinted with Permission

LOCKPORT, N.Y. - Dozens of residents living in a Lockport apartment complex are without a home Sunday morning.


A two alarm fire tore through the building Saturday night.

Now they've been told it could be weeks or maybe even months before they're able to return.

The apartment complex on Robinson Road has 3 floors and 23 units.

Kristina Mottorn and her four month old son and her boyfriend live in the apartment.

They had just stopped by to pick something up inside.

Kristina tells us that as soon as she walked back outside, she smelled smoke.

Mottorn said, "It was like in the blink of an eye like as soon as you closed your eyes and opened them smoke was everywhere and coming out of everybody's windows."

She and most of the families who live here will now stay with family members.

But they can't go back inside to see how much of their belongings they've lost until investigators finish their investigation.

Diane Sargent of the American Red Cross added, "Some of them have little infants that need formula and such like that so we're helping with that."

The American Red Cross sat down with each family to find out their needs.

The fire happened so quickly that Andrew Latz had to rush out without a t-shirt.

He and his girlfriend were celebrating her birthday when they suddenly smelled smoke.

Resident Andrew Latz said, "The alarm went off I went upstairs checked all the doors with my hand to see if they were hot I felt a hot door started pounding on everybody's doors getting everybody out."

Fire crews say it will be some time before families are able to move back home.

Joseph Fries of the Rapids Fire Department said, "It's reparable. but because of the amount of smoke and water damage that's all gotta be cleaned up before anybody can get back in."

"It took them a while to put out the fire. They put a hole in the roof for the smoke to come out," said Mottorn.

Copyright WIVB.com