Saranac Lake firefighters knock down a blaze at 155 Broadway on Nov. 5. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — A week after a fire on the top floor of 155 Broadway displaced eight residents on Election Day, Alejandro Gonzalez, one of the building’s former tenants, has set up a GoFundMe for the families who lived there as they search for new housing amid a housing shortage and replace the personal items they lost.

Gonzalez lived on the bottom floor with his uncle, who was working on renovating the seven-unit apartment building after it had come under new ownership this summer. His mom and step-siblings lived on the top floor, closer to where the fire was.

His GoFundMe can be found at tinyurl.com/3hj49e36.

Gonzalez was woken out of a sleep when his uncle shouted “Fire!” at around 11:25 a.m. that day, only having time to grab his wallet and phone on the way out.

“I didn’t even grab my shoes,” Gonzalez said.

The Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department Chief Michael Knapp said the cause of the fire is still under investigation by Franklin County. The fire has been deemed it not suspicious.

“Luckily, everyone was safe during the evacuation,” Gonzalez wrote on his GoFundMe. “However, electronics, furniture and clothing were just a few items that were taken over by the fire that left families in a panic for safety.”

Gonzalez said they lost furniture, electronics and clothes on the bottom floor, but nothing like family gifts or sentimental items. Upstairs, his family lost “pretty much everything.” The unit was completely destroyed by smoke, water and fire, he said.

Gonzalez is raising money for everyone in the building, he said, with plans to spread it around.

“I mean, yeah, I lost (items),” he said. “But if the lady with her 80-year-old husband could receive something and the worker who was staying with his son could receive something … If I can be a helping hand to anyone as much as possible … I feel like it would be a good start.”

The fire is a “devastating” loss, Gonzalez said, who believes he and the community can help everyone heal from it.

“Although a piece of our home was taken, the strength of the community coming together and helping emotionally is something that cannot be,” he wrote on his GoFundMe. “Thank you with Love and Light

The building is currently owned by a company called Northern Holdings Group LLC. Earlier this year, it changed hands as former landlord Bob Decker started selling off his properties around the village after a fatal fire at his 11 Elm St. property. The 115 Broadway property sold to Northern Holdings Group on July 29 for $225,000.

The company has been doing repairs to the building in recent months.

The fire left significant fire damage on the upper floor and attic, according to SLVFD First Assistant Chief Jim Stinson. Though the flames were contained, the smoke and water damage resulting from the fire and the firefight caused significant damage throughout the rest of the building. Tyler Legault, a member of Northern Holdings Group, said there is water damage “top to bottom.” The water mitigation began immediately on Nov. 5 and the company’s van has been parked outside the building every day since. Legault said they’re gutting the top floor down to the studs. The lower levels still need a lot of work, but have slightly less damage.

Legault is predicting months of renovations before the building is habitable again.

American Red Cross spokesperson Mary Alice Molgard said six adults and two teenagers ages 14 and 17 were displaced by the fire. The Red Cross provided direct financial support, which could be used to rent temporary housing or replace belongings.

Gonzalez said everyone was staying at local hotels, but they’re all searching for long-term housing.

He probably won’t move back into the 155 Broadway building when it reopens. Gonzalez said the new owner is investing in the building and obviously cares about it, but the building has a “black cloud over it” with a bad reputation and a “bad aura.” He’ll find a new place and stay there instead.

SLVFD was on scene quickly after the fire broke out, as the firehouse is only a couple hundred feet away. Flames could be seen rising on the back porch of the building, and smoke rose from the windows in the attic. It took firefighters from Saranac Lake, Lake Placid and Bloomingdale around an hour and approximately 20,000 to 25,000 gallons of water to knock down the flames.

Legault said the fire is tragic because they had been working hard to renovate this long-neglected building to make it a better home.

“We turned the building around, I thought, from where it was,” Legault said.

They spray-foamed the roof, installed new propane heating systems, replaced windows and doors, completely renovated a first-floor unit, and had working fire extinguishers. Legault said he got on scene pretty early on and used a fire extinguisher to start fighting the fire, but it was too intense for the extinguisher alone.

He said the building’s tenants had been pitching in on the work and doing outside flower plantings, taking pride in making the building look nice.

SLVFD also responded with their brand-new ladder truck, which was delivered two weeks ago. It was the first call for LT-144. Legault said he was grateful the department has this truck, because they were trying to extinguish the fire from the inside, and it was not accessible.

“We would have lost the building if they didn’t have that new lift,” he said.

“It already paid for itself right there in the first week it was here,” Knapp said.

The fire was reported by a neighbor, Sarah Curtis, who smelled smoke after returning from voting, saw flames a few minutes later and ran down to the firehall after calling the police.

“I sure am grateful for those fast responders,” Curtis said. “It was pretty dramatic.”

“I’m astonished I was in the right place at the right time,” she added.

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Previously condemned

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Three of the seven apartments in 155 Broadway were condemned by village Code Enforcement Officer Chris McClatchie in April. The problem with the three units he condemned — all street-facing apartments — is that there is no secondary means of egress — no alternate route out in the case of a fire.

“God forbid, if they ever had a fire … they’re not going to get out,” McClatchie said at the time. “That was my biggest concern.”

In April, McClatchie also found outdated smoke and carbon monoxide detectors throughout the building, as well as dangerous electrical wiring.

“A lot of the electrical is old and faulty with broken wires in the basement that still have power,” he wrote.

The chance for fire was high in the building when he inspected it

McClatchie said that the heat at 155 Broadway was not functioning properly. A furnace in the basement was not running, according to residents, and Legault said it wasn’t stocked with coal reliably before they took over the building.

McClatchie said the majority of apartments were being heated with oven doors open and broil on high when he did his inspection.

“How the place didn’t catch fire already, I’ll never know,” McClatchie said in April.

The building now has several new propane tanks outside.

An open window of the roof gable, where the smoke was pouring out on Nov. 5 is a roosting place for birds and mammals.

McClatchie’s inspection only came after the building changed hands and Northern Holdings Group allowed him into the property.