OGDENSBURG, New York (WWNY) – Four months after fire made Ogdensburg’s Riverview Towers unlivable, some residents are now moving back into their apartments.
On March 8, the 11-story high rise was damaged by a sixth-floor fire.
Water damage to floors one through six and smoke damage to floors seven to eleven kept residents from returning.
One of them, Barbara Davenport, says she’s glad to be back home with some new repairs.
“They put new tiles out in the hallways on my floor. I’m on seventh. They painted the walls in there. They tried to fix up the apartment, you know, by washing down stuff. The apartment wasn’t too bad; there were some messes, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be,” she said.
While residents on floors seven through eleven have permission to move back into their old apartments, people who lived on floors one through six still do not have that permission as those floors are still being repaired.
Ogdensburg Housing Authority Executive Director Cheryl Douglass says construction crews are still working on the floors and don’t have a set time for residents for floors two through six to move back in.
“It is all dependent upon the supply chain issues as most things. So we have to…we are moving them in. We will be moving them in as we can and as the construction progresses,” she said.
Many residents had to relocate to communities such as Massena or Canton until repairs were finalized.
Residents on floors two through six will have to wait longer before they can return to their units. Those who have moved back in say it’s good to be home.
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