After apartment fires, many in Columbia are left homeless. Can a new law help?
Through tears, Frances Webber recalled walking through the remains of her charred apartment.
Her church clothes, games for her grandchildren, TVs and other electronics were all gone when she went back to survey the damage.
The late-January fire that tore through the Columbia Rising Apartments engulfed a portion of the roof and left at least 16 units damaged. Thirty people who started the day with a home ended it without one.
“If it wasn’t for my daughter, I would be homeless. I wouldn’t have any place to go,” Webber told members of Columbia City Council this week, as she voiced support for a proposal from Councilman Tyler Bailey that would require apartment owners to help tenants find temporary housing if an emergency evacuation occurs.
Already this year, two large apartment fires in the Columbia area have displaced around 50 people, the Columbia-Richland Fire Department has reported.
The January fire at Columbia Rising Apartments off of North Main Street displaced 30 people, and a February fire displaced at least 20 people who were living at the Briargate Condos near Broad River Road.
Other large fires in recent years include a major blaze at the Tropical Ridge Apartments in May 2023, in which Irmo firefighter James Muller was killed. At least 19 people were displaced after that fire.
A 6-year-old child died in an April 2023 fire at Whispering Pines Apartments, and at least a dozen people were displaced.
Bailey’s proposal also would hold apartment owners accountable for non-fire emergencies created by code violations, like in the case of the Colony Apartments, which had to evacuate all 300 units just after Christmas in 2022 because of water issues and gas leaks.
The city of Columbia is in the midst of a legal battle with the owners of that property, after the city spent tens of thousands of dollars relocating residents and inspecting all 300 apartment units in that complex.
Bailey’s proposal would not affect every Columbia landlord, but it would designate certain properties as high-risk, and those high-risk apartments would need to meet extra standards before they could be granted new rental permits.
An apartment would be considered high-risk if it has more than 16 units, was built before 1980, is taller than four stories, or meets any combination of those conditions.
Columbia already requires apartments to have permits to operate rental units, but the new proposal would require high-risk apartments to include an emergency operations plan as part of their permit application.
Perhaps most significantly, the plan would require apartment owners to ensure tenants have a safe place to stay in the case of an emergency evacuation.
If an emergency does happen and the apartment doesn’t comply with its emergency plan, the apartment would be barred from renewing its rental permits for three years.
Apartment owners would also have to include plans to:
▪ Notify every tenant of the nature and urgency of the emergency;
▪ Be able to provide current contact information for every tenant — which became a problem when the city responded to the incident at Colony Apartments;
▪ Secure the units while tenants are evacuated from them;
▪ Allow tenants to return to the property once the emergency is over.
The proposal also states that if the emergency is caused by a tenant, the apartment owner would not be in jeopardy of losing their rental permit.
The proposal must still receive approval from a council committee and then receive a majority vote from City Council.
Bailey said he believes he has the support from the rest of City Council to see the new measures enacted.
