COLUMBIA, S.C. — New problems have been discovered at the Colony Apartments.
It's been almost three weeks since residents at the Colony Apartments were told they had to leave because their living conditions were deemed unsafe.
Now, Columbia Richland Fire Department Chief Aubrey Jenkins says that a number of cleared units had gas leaks that were discovered earlier in the week, all of which have since been repaired.
Jenkins says the process starts with Dominion Energy cutting gas off from the unit, where his team works with a third party HVAC company to make any necessary repairs. One those are made, the Fire Department will check equipment for leaks before the units are depressurized and gas is sent back to the apartment.
"It's just a matter of getting everything pressurized and then getting [Dominion] to come out and cut the gas back on."
News19 also spoke to a mother who lives in a unit at Colony. She says she just moved back into her home after weeks in a hotel, which was provided by the management company of the Colony Apartments.
"[They] told [us] we had to move to a hotel. I'm like 'a hotel? Y'all couldn't fix it?' So, we stayed there for a couple weeks."
Of the 300 units originally deemed unsafe by his crews, 78% have now been cleared by his crews, according to Jenkins. He notes that normally his team can go through about 30 units per day, but that doesn't mean they are able to clear 30 each day. He still doesn't have a definite timeline for when every unit will be cleared.