March 28--Police and fire departments are investigating as arsons two fires last week at a St. Paul apartment building, and the fire marshal said it appears one unit is being targeted.
"It's just been an unnerving situation around here," said LaMarr Terrell, 54, who lives in the North End apartment with his wife. "I don't sleep at night. I sit up all night listening to sounds at the door. We're living in terror."
Firefighters were called to 208 W. Hoyt Ave. on March 19 at 6:34 a.m. "Someone poured an ignitable liquid underneath an apartment door and set it on fire," said Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard.
Terrell said he and his wife, Rita, were sleeping when "by the grace of God I was awakened to use the bathroom. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up and I turned to the front door and the flames were under the door, shooting through the door."
LaMarr Terrell woke up his wife, who is also 54, and she called 911. He opened the apartment door, he said, and was met "with a wall of flames."
He said he learned as a U.S. Navy operations specialist about putting out fires and keeping a level head, and continued: "We didn't lose anything because I stayed in there and fought it. I knew if I ran away the fire would spread worse." He used a pot of water to put out the fire before firefighters arrived.
On Wednesday, March 21, firefighters were summoned at 3:11 p.m. to another fire at the building. "Someone poured an accelerant on the stairs," Zaccard said. "The fire
was confined to the carpeting on a few stairs. It was pretty smoky, but there was a lot more smoke than fire."
The stairwell where the fire occurred is next to the apartment where the Terrells live. LaMarr Terrell said he got Rita out, and used the same pot with water to fight the fire.
Both fires appeared to be targeting one unit, Zaccard said.
"The resident says the only people who could be angry with him are some youths he found smoking pot in the hallway and made them leave the building," he said.
That happened the week before the fires, but LaMarr Terrell said he's not convinced they're the people involved. When he talked to the people in the hallway, "they simply said, 'OK' and got up and left," LaMarr Terrell said.
"It could be anybody, but I doubt that we're being targeted," he said. "I'm a community activist over here. Three years (living in the building), no problems whatsoever and then out of the blue, why is this happening?"
The Terrells stayed at a hotel on Wednesday and Thursday night, put up by the American Red Cross, "in case we were being targeted," LaMarr Terrell said.
They returned to their apartment and said they planned to continue living there because they couldn't afford to move.
But that changed Monday, March 26 -- they received notice from building management that they must move by April 30, which upset them.
The Terrells have a month-to-month lease that can be terminated at any time, as long as 30 days' notice is given, said Mark Gunter, chief manager for Gunson Properties LLC, which owns the building.
After the second fire last week, "it became a lot more serious thing," Gunter said. "We approached the tenants and said, 'It's getting pretty dangerous.' "
Gunter said they showed the Terrells another unit in another part of town, but the couple told them it was too small, Gunter said.
They also offered to give the Terrells their security deposit back right away, if they could move quickly, so they could use it "to find a new, safer place to live where someone isn't targeting them with arson," Gunter said. LaMarr Terrell said the deadline was too soon.
In the end, Gunter decided to terminate the lease. "The last thing we want is someone to come back and start another fire," Gunter said. "We don't think it's safe for the other tenants and for them to live there. We are looking out for the safety of other tenants, which is our right."
Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried or twitter.com/ppUsualSuspects.
Copyright 2012 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
