By Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal
Local relief agencies are providing assistance to several residents who were affected by an apartment fire earlier this month in Greenwood.
A fire July 19 at Polo Run Apartments in the 800 block of Wellington Lane, Greenwood, caused an estimated $160,000 in damage and displaced the residents of 12 apartments. The fire remains under investigation.
The American Red Cross for the Indiana region and the United Way of Johnson County provided assistance to the residents. United Way provided funding to the Red Cross, said Nancy Lohr Plake, United Way Johnson County’s executive director.
The Red Cross is assisting 12 residents with financial assistance, mental health services and access to other resources to help them recover, said LaMar Holliday, a spokesperson for the agency.
Greenwood resident Trevor O’Dell is one of the displaced residents the Red Cross is helping. The agency called O’Dell after the fire and helped him and his family get settled into a hotel.
O’Dell’s apartment was across from the apartment where the fire began. O’Dell and his family had lived in the apartment for four years, he said.
He first noticed something was wrong when his wife, Brittany Caviness, smelled something odd. When O’Dell looked out their peephole, all he saw was black, he said.
He and Caviness worked to get their children out of the apartment, and they all got out alive. However, the experience was traumatic. Both his six-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son were scared to death after the fire, he said.
The family has since gone back to examine the damage.
“Everything is burnt or has a chemical smell,” he said. “We lost everything.”
O’Dell contacted the apartment complex to ask about options. The complex offered the family another apartment, but the cost of the apartment was higher than what they were paying. The family had just renewed their lease earlier this year.
Plake encourages anyone who may need assistance to call the United Way helpline at 317-738-4636.
