Residents recover after losing homes in fire at Pines of Perinton a year ago

PERINTON, N.Y. — One year ago Wednesday, a massive fire destroyed parts of the Pines of Perinton Apartment Complex. More than 60 people lost their homes.

Just before the fire, several people who lived there complained about all sorts of violations in their apartments. News10NBC asked town leaders about any improvements made at the complex since rebuilding.

Besides getting some updates on the improvements, several community groups were recognized for their relief efforts on the night of the fire during Wednesday night’s Town Board meeting.

“Throughout the whole process it was amazing to me how the community stepped up, and were able to help out,” said Perinton Town Supervisor Ciaran Hanna’s

This scene was astonishing at the Pines of Perinton, as fire fighters fought diligently to put out the fire. Before the fire the apartment complex faced lots of violations. We asked Hanna if any of those violation were the root cause of the fire.

“I don’t know that there was a violation that caused the fire. There was no indication of what caused the fire. The investigation didn’t turn up anything,” said Hanna.

For years residents complained about mice, bugs, and black mold in their apartments just to name a few. Last year residents were urged to take their concerns to the town board. Since then the town has taken some action to help prevent future violations at the complex. If one or more do pop up, it’s the resident’s responsibility to report them immediately.

“They work with the maintenance staff there first, and if they are not satisfied with what’s going on with the maintenance staff they report it to the town, and then the town goes out and investigates,” said Hanna.

Wednesday night dozens of volunteers were recognized by the Town, for helping those who lost everything in the fire. Chelsey Zawadzki collected donations of clothes, and other essential items at her business. She sent out one Facebook message to the community.

“If you want to bring your donations here, I have space. Drop them off. Little did I know how many donations we were actually going to get, and donations filled our entire space,” said Zawadzki.

Kelly Weishaar also got involved when the victims had nowhere to go, and at the time no one to turn too.

“I think that all of us would certainly say that we just did what needed to be done at the time to help our community, and to be a support for them. So I was really, I was honored. I was taken back. I was generally surprised to be called here tonight,” said Weishaar.

Hanna tell us all of the displaced resident have since found new homes, with many of them returning to the Pines of Perinton.