Recriminations after the deadly New Year's Day fire in Holyoke included on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017 Mayor Alex Morse updating the City Council about relief efforts for displaced families and Councilor Dan Bresnahan saying specialists could handle such efforts while Morse should focus on getting public safety properly funded.
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HOLYOKE -- Mayor Alex B. Morse updated the City Council Tuesday about housing, insurance, furnishings and other efforts to help the 25 families displaced by a New Year's Day fire that has resulted in three deaths at 106 North East St.
But Councilor at Large Daniel B. Bresnahan said later Morse should leave such work to agencies that specialize in relief efforts and instead focus on ensuring public safety is properly funded.
City Council President Kevin A. Jourdain began the meeting in City Council Chambers at City Hall with the unusual step of letting Morse address the council.
"I want to thank Alex for his leadership. I want to thank him for his hard work on this and keeping us very informed about what's going on," Jourdain said.
Besides the fire, which also displaced 25 families, Holyoke Police Sgt. David O'Connell died Saturday and Heather McMahon, nurse supervisor at Holyoke Medical Center and member of the Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade Committee, died Monday.
"Obviously it's no secret that it's been a pretty sad and heartbreaking few days for the city of Holyoke," Morse said.
"Despite the grief that many of us are feeling in this community I think what has been heartening is the hope that all of us see in the hundreds of people coming together over the weekend going through the doors of Kelly School to provide donations for those families in need," he said.
Of the families displaced, including some from an adjacent building that had to be evacuated, 24 of the 25 have found long-term housing, he said.
Morse organized a disaster recovery center held at the War Memorial at 310 Appleton St. Tuesday. Those who lost homes in the fire could get help from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), the American Red Cross, city agencies, insurance companies, property managers and the state Department of Transitional Assistance.
"We were helping folks get their birth certificates. I want to thank the (city) clerk's office for helping with that," Morse said.
The center at the War Memorial will be open today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., he said.
Morse said special thanks was due to the firefighters, police and others who responded to the fire on Sunday, along with Principal Jacqueline Glasheen who recognized the need and opened the doors of Kelly School at 216 West St. The school soon was filled with volunteers and donations of clothing, food and toiletries.
Lists are being compiled of what families need in terms of furniture, beds, mattresses, etc., Morse said.
He realized councilors have received complaints that some of the apartments that families displaced by the fire were moved into lacked stoves and refrigerators, but such issues were being addressed and his office made sure all the units had heat and hot water. All of the apartments had certificates of occupancy from the city, he said.
The five-story apartment building that burned at North East and East Dwight streets didn't have a monitored alarm system connected to the Fire Department or a sprinkler system, he said. Morse said he will be discussing with city officials what can be done to ensure owners of such buildings install such safety measures.
"Those are the types of things that we want to address in the coming days to make sure that this doesn't happen again," he said.
Maria Cartagena, 48, and Jorge Munoz, 55, both of Holyoke, and Trevor R. Wadleigh, 34, of Easthampton, were killed as a result of the fire, according to the office of Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but Gulluni said the probe is not a criminal investigation.
Discussion will arise about the "browning out," or temporary removal from service, of Engine 2 located at Fire Department headquarters at 600 High St. related to the fighting of the 106 North East St. fire, said Morse, but he said his focus currently remains on helping the displaced families.
The brownouts have been done for several years to avoid overtime spending that builds up by summoning off-duty firefighters to work shifts when personnel is thin because firefighters are on vacation, ill or otherwise unavailable. Such overtime can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The City Council referred to its Public Safety Committee an order from Bresnahan that the city fully fund all fire stations and trucks.
Deadly fire leads Holyoke union president Chad Cunningham to seek removal of Fire Chief John Pond
Chad Cunningham, president of Holyoke Fire Fighters Association, Local 1693,International Association of Fire Fighters, criticized the brownouts and Fire Chief John A. Pond and Morse for establishing them.
During the public speak out at the City Council meeting, Cunningham said the lack of personnel with the absence of Engine 2 hindered the firefighters who were first on the scene at Sunday's fire in providing help to tenants in the burning building.
In an email, Bresnahan said that after listening to Morse's update, he thinks the mayor should change his focus.
"I think the mayor needs to get back to business at hand and let the agencies that work and have worked with displaced families for decades do their work. I would prefer he jump into action on city finances and create a budget that properly funds public safety," Bresnahan said.
"His comments about his main priority right now is assisting in making sure victims have stoves, heat and refrigerators is a beautiful gesture but he should let the proper agencies that have this type of expertise and experience in this area do what they do best while he explores ways to prevent brownouts," he said.
