Residents Displaced By Deadly High-Rise Fire on South Side Frustrated They Cannot Enter Their Homes

City officials have said safety issues have kept residents out of the building

NBCUniversal Media, LLC

Frustration is growing for people displaced by a deadly high-rise fire on Chicago's South Side.

The blaze happened on Jan. 25 in the city’s Kenwood neighborhood, which fire investigators later determined was caused by careless use of smoking materials on the building's 15th floor.

One woman was killed in the fire.

Some residents who live on floors that were not damaged by fire or water said they should be allowed inside their homes to get personal belongings.

Ron Thomas has lived in the building since 2019, but hasn't been back to his 4th floor unit since the day of the fire.

“When you go to the lobby, they have an orange sign up preventing you from going to part of building that I live in,” Thomas told NBC 5. “I cannot get into the place I call home.”

Thomas said he asked management for permission to go inside his unit and grab a few things, but was denied permission.

Thomas said he was told he’d have to make an appointment, meet someone in the lobby of the building and give that person his key. Then, they would proceed inside his unit and retrieve his belongings.

“I have a problem with that, cause they have already had an experience with their own staff stealing from people,” he said.

“It just seems like they did not think this out. They need to have a better system," Thomas said.

Two members of a clean-up crew hired to work in the building were recently charged with stealing thousands in cash and jewelry from a unit.

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