COLUMBIA, S.C. — For the third day in a row, city crews including police, fire, code enforcement, and city council members made their way out to Colony Apartments off West Beltline Boulevard to continue inspections.
Out of 300 units, fire crews found at least 3 different gas leaks. Columbia-Richland Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins says the leaks will keep people out of their homes longer than expected.
"How long people are going to be out at this point is really hard to say. We just have to go through every apartment out here and make sure that everything is taken care of, and that's going to take some time," Jenkins explained.
Tenants have been temporarily staying in local hotels and were told they would get to leave by Friday, but now that may not be the case.
We also spoke with Columbia Police Deputy Chief Melron Kelly who says people have been allowed back into their homes for short periods of time to collect clothing or needed items.
He gave this statement saying, "More than 50 units still need to be cleared to make sure they have water, heat, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors as well."
Kelly explained that since February 2021, the apartments have had 10 code violations including, eight for litter, one for an abandoned car, and one for a boarded-up window.
The apartment complex's last full inspection was in August. City crews plan to be back in the apartment complex Friday morning to start another round of inspections.
We reached out to SC Housing about this property and were told that they will reply on Friday. The Monroe Group who owns the property, as well as Housing and Urban Development, have not replied to News 19's request for comment.