“It’s painful going back and forth. Maybe I can save this one item,” Lauren Tipton said.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Weeks after a six-alarm fire tore through The Cooper Apartments in Fort Worth, displaced tenants are still waiting — some in tears — over whether they’ll ever recover what’s left of their homes.
“It’s painful going back and forth. Maybe I can save this one item,” said Lauren Tipton, a former resident who was among more than 800 people forced out when the June 28 fire burned for hours and left the building severely damaged.
This week, Tipton and other residents received new emails from apartment management. One message warned: “The building and your personal property are almost certainly contaminated by hazardous substances unsafe for humans or animals.”
Tipton shared photos of the damage to her unit, while others like Stacie Chadwick are pleading to get inside for personal reasons.
“My mom’s ashes are in my apartment. So, that’s all I want at this point,” she said.
Zaire Harris also returned to the site, still hopeful after weeks of waiting.
“My hopes were sky high that initially this would be like a week or two process,” Harris said. “Here we are in week six.”
Other residents echoed the frustration.
“I’m not going to push and advocate for myself,” Phillip Kurtzweil said. “I have my passport in there. I didn’t request that on my initial request for essentials. Thinking that I’ll be able to get that in a couple of weeks. I have diplomas from my college graduation. my med school graduation, my residency graduation.”
Gage McGraw drove to Fort Worth Friday morning hoping to get inside his old apartment. He said he thinks it’s morally wrong that the apartment complex has been keeping the residents from their things.
“It came as a surprise to me once they had told me that all of my stuff was a total loss and I was very upset,” McGraw said. “I ended up driving from Houston today and this morning to come and try to get some answers, and I’ve been met with nothing.”
WFAA reached out to The Cooper Apartments for comment regarding the recent emails.
In previous responses, managers thanked tenants for their patience. While management has allowed limited access to some tenants — those with moving trucks and units away from the fire’s origin — residents whose apartments were closer to the source of the blaze have not been allowed in.
Fort Worth District 9 Councilwoman Elizabeth Beck said she and other city leaders have tried to help, but are limited in what they can legally do. Beck has been a voice for the tenants, spearheaded fundraisers, and has been a supporter helping people get back on their feet.
“The city doesn’t have the ability to intervene in the landlord-tenant relationship that you see here,” Beck said. “It’s heartbreaking. I know that many of the residents here have sought legal counsel for the way that they’ve been, the way that this has been handled. I would encourage additional members to seek that legal remedy.”
As the city representative for the area, Beck urges the apartment management team to accommodate those tenants who are distressed for items like loved ones’ remains still inside their apartments, and other sentimental items.
Despite the emotional toll and uncertainty, many tenants like Tipton are holding on.
“There’s a little glimmer of hope that maybe I could get some stuff out of there,” she said.
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