TERRELL, Texas — Residents at a Terrell apartment complex have been without heat for days as temperatures are reaching the lowest they’ve been this winter. But, this isn’t the first time these residents have been without heat in the last couple months and now city officials say the property owner will be under some heat of their own.
TERRELL, Texas — Residents at a Terrell apartment complex have been without heat for days as temperatures are reaching the lowest they’ve been this winter. But, this isn’t the first time these residents have been without heat in the last couple months and now city officials say the property owner will be under some heat of their own.
At 9 p.m., Wednesday night, temperatures had already dropped to 26 degrees with a wind chill factor of 15 degrees and a two-man crew was working to fix a series of breaks in an aged clay pipe boiler heater system.
“We’ll work as long as it takes,” said one of the men working in a large hole next to one of the Virgina Anne Apartment buildings in the 100 block of Lovers Lane. A central boiler sends hot water to each of the complex’s buildings but the pipes keep bursting.
“We spent all day yesterday hand digging that hole,” he said pointing to another hole on the other side of the building. Both areas had previously been repaired in November in nearly the exact same locations which resulted in the heaters not working during a similar cold snap.
One repair has been made and the crew is finalizing the second with the help of a mini-excavator. Once the repair is made, heat should be restored to all the units through a temporary boiler overnight. The boiler will be shutdown Thursday morning to make additional repairs.
Speaking to CBS, Terrell City Manager Tory Edwards said, “We need for them to fix it correctly and not continue to put band aids on it. With these sub temperatures…these are safety concerns. So, again, we need them to fix the problem immediately.”
The property owner was reportedly fined today and could face daily fines if the problem persists.
