Heat problems hit Coatesville Towers

Officials bring in space heaters to help residents

Space heaters were brought in for residents while parts for the complex’s heater were being located.

COATESVILLE » Coatesville Towers had heating issues overnight into Thursday morning, according to city officials.

Coatesville City Manager Michael Trio was alerted Wednesday night by several city council members that the Coatesville Towers at 339 E. Lincoln Highway was without heat. He made a few calls to check on the situation and the Coatesville police and fire department were dispatched to make sure the building was safe for the residents to remain there overnight. Trio met with emergency services personnel and officials from the Codes Department to walk through the building. He said the building was still warm at that time.

“We did everything we could to make sure it was OK,” Trio said on Thursday.

Trio said that because of a malfunction with the heating system, several parts needed to be replaced and the heater was in the process of being fixed on Wednesday night. He said it was fixed by Thursday afternoon. Trio said 70 space heaters were ordered on Wednesday night, but they were not delivered to the Towers until 1 a.m. on Thursday so the space heaters were distributed to the residents by 8 a.m. Thursday.

The temperatures this week continue to be in the teens.

“Everyone helped the citizens, we wanted to make sure that they had heat,” Trio said. “We dispatched the right people to help. We are confident that it was handled correctly.”

Trio said that because the stoves are electric and not gas, that people did set their stoves to low at 275 degrees, which was acceptable. However, he advised them discontinue that because the stoves had been on for a short period. It was unclear who informed residents to do so. Ovens and stoves are not designed to heat a home and can pose a fire or carbon monoxide risk, according to FEMA fire administration.

“I will say as a primary source of heating the oven should not be used, however, in a situation like this with the ovens being electric and not gas it is OK for a short time,” Coatesville Fire Chief Garry Alderman said. “The issue that we found was a few residents had their temperature set to high (450 degrees). We had them turn them down and I was told that the apartments were not that cold. We talked to several residents and they were all OK.”

Alderman talked with the Red Cross twice on Wednesday night and the members offered to bring some blankets and coffee to the lobby if needed. He said based on the conversation with residents, they said all they wanted to do was go to bed. He was informed that space heaters would be provided to the residents, but did not know until Thursday about the delay in the residents receiving the space heaters.

The Towers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.