INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A fire the Independence Fire Department says was intentionally set at Independence Towers on Monday morning is not the only issue concerning residents, as they say the building has been without air conditioning for weeks.
"We've been without air conditioning for about five weeks," resident Elliot West said. "It started in the middle of May."
West — who has resided at the apartment for eight years with her mom and dad — is part of the tenants union at Independence Towers.
The union began organizing in mid-March, when residents say they were without hot water for two weeks.
Andrew Manno, a resident of the building for five years, is also with the union. He said air conditioning is an issue every year.
"It’s been a bit of a nightmare," Manno said. "I haven’t slept since the fire. I think that’s a mix of the adrenaline and the fact that it's, I don’t have a temperature in there but it’s hot. I’m sweating all night.”
Jason Brown moved into the building four months ago with his three children. He said he has 12 fans set up in his apartment to try to offset the heat.
“This is ridiculous," he said. "I got three asthmatics in my house, and that’s bad without no A/C."
Asthma can worsen with high temperatures, and this year, overnight temperatures — when buildings typically cool down — have been unusually warm, according to KSHB 41's meteorologist Cassie Wilson.
The tenant union says it demanded that the property management, Trigild, to provide a temporary solution if the air conditioning was not fixed by last week.
“They brought in boxed fans, thinking that that’s going to be a solution enough to keep us from being mad," West said.
For now, tenants are unsure of when they'll have air conditioning.
“Well, they said they were going to give everyone AC units, that still hasn’t happened," Brown said.
Tenants of Independence Towers have a meeting set for Thursday, June 20, with Trigild. Manno says a few concerns will be addressed.
“The ACs gotta get turned on first and foremost," he said. "I would really like to see this fire addressed. As it stands, I haven’t heard anything from management about it, only involvement with my community has given me information.”
KSHB 41 News has reached out to Trigild via e-mail and by phone but didn't hear back before this story was published.
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