Published: October 23, 2006 01:39 pm      

Knobs Pointe building smolders in Sunday fire

Displaced tenants staying in hotel

NEW ALBANY — A weekend fire at a local apartment complex caused significant damage to six units and has temporarily displaced its tenants.

New Albany firefighters were called about 10 a.m. Sunday to Knobs Pointe Apartments along Paoli Pike where they found an electrical fire in the walls of one of the buildings.

New Albany Fire Department Chief Ron Toran said the fire started in bottom-floor apartment No. 374 in an electrical-panel box. From there, it spread up and out, but firefighters said it was mostly contained within the walls.

The six apartments sustained heat, water and smoke damage, Toran said. One firefighter was taken to Floyd Memorial Hospital & Health Services for exhaustion. She has since been released.

Knobs Pointe owner Plato Foufas said the displaced tenants are staying at an area hotel until they can be placed in other apartments.

“We’re going to do everything we can to accommodate their financial needs,” he said.

Foufas said the electrical panel where firefighters claim the fire started had just recently been replaced, as had some of the wiring throughout the building.

Foufas said representatives from Bayshore Management Co. — based in Chicago — were on site conducting their own investigation and have said they believe the fire not to have started in the panel, but above it.

Foufas said since he bought the apartment complex four years ago, he and Bayshore Management have spent more than $4 million in updates and repairs. He dispelled rumors that the complex is fire prone, saying he hasn’t had a fire in the four years he’s owned the complex.

“There was a fire here about 30 years ago where one of the buildings burned completely down, but I don’t know of anything significant since then,” he said. “Any defects to property were corrected long ago or by us since we’ve owned the property. I don’t know of any apartment project that would be as safe as this one.”

Foufas also said he wanted to personally thank the Salvation Army and the Red Cross who were on site Sunday to hand out blankets and food to those displaced by the fire.

“It’s sad that these things happen, but sometimes they’re just unavoidable,” he said.