BY FRAIDY REISS
Correspondent
LAKEWOOD — Despite the objections of the building inspection department, residents have returned to a Forest Avenue building that was damaged by a June 3 blaze.
“The building is occupied and it should not be,” inspector Jose Rivas said on June 7. “No one’s supposed to be in here.”
The 31-apartment building still needs some repairs and smells strongly of smoke, which is why residents have been “gagging and getting sick,” Rivas said.
David Halon, manager of the building for owner Abosch and Stadler LLC, could not be reached for comment. His secretary, who declined to give her name, said on June 7 that Halon did not want to give a statement, but she confirmed that most tenants had moved back into their apartments.
No one was seriously injured in the fire which occurred on the morning of June 3 thanks to the efforts of rescue workers, witnesses said. The only minor injuries involved eight police officers, a firefighter and an EMS worker who were treated at Kimball Medical Center and released.
“We’re not big heroes,” Lakewood Fire Chief John Stillwell said. “It’s our job.”
The Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office has determined the fire was caused by an electrical problem, Stillwell said.
“The occupant reported hearing a popping sound and seeing sparks come out of a wall outlet,” he said.
Stillwell was ready to contact the American Red Cross for help in relocating the 31 families, but said he was told everyone had a place to go.
“The community came together and [all the residents] found temporary housing with family and friends,” he said.
Building resident Miriam Baila Wikler, who stayed with her parents in their Lakewood home after the fire, said on June 6 that she still had not returned to her apartment, although several of her neighbors had returned to their units.
Wikler described the terror she felt just before 11 a.m. June 3, when she heard someone screaming, “Help me! Help me! There’s a fire!”
She said she helped a neighbor carry three children out of an apartment and then called 911.
“It was so scary,” she said, “seeing flames and not knowing what to do.”