The seventh floor of 9348 Cherry Hill Road hums with sounds of air purifiers in place throughout the hallways. The walls and ceilings are still blackened from smoke. A large chunk of the wall near the elevators is simply missing, the melted insulation and bare wood frame exposed.
The College Park apartment building, located roughly half a mile off Route 1 in the Seven Springs Village Apartments complex, has seen five cases of arson in the last three months, the most recent being a trash chute fire at 1:30 a.m. May 19. With damages estimated at $15,000, the Prince George’s County Fire Department has launched an ongoing investigation to find the serial arsonist.
In the meantime, residents, including many university students, say they fear for their safety. A lack of initiative from management and fire officials has several residents considering canceling their leases. Some suggested the fires could be a scare tactic aimed at forcing people out of the building.
“I don’t feel secure in here anymore,” said Meytal Green, a resident of the seventh floor, where the worst damages occurred. “It’s only a matter of time. … It’s going to happen again.”
Darol Jones lives directly outside where the seventh floor fire was set May 14. He was in his studio apartment at roughly 3:30 a.m., when he heard the fire alarm wail.
He opened the door long enough to see the billowing clouds of black smoke – several residents described it as so thick they could not see their hands – and immediately retreated back into his apartment. The firefighters who rescued him told him he might not have made it out alive had he tried to escape alone.
Jones, 58, has lived in the building for 30 years. What had been a mostly quiet building now has him concerned for his life.
“The question is whether it’s someone who lives here,” Jones said. “There’s definitely some arson going on. … Somebody is sick.”
After the fire, Jones was given a pamphlet on fire safety by the county fire department. Since, neither he nor several of his neighbors have spoken with fire officials regarding the case.
A new security camera was installed in the building’s lobby and a security guard now walks the halls, according to residents. Large Phoenix Guardian HEPA Systems have been set up on floors affected by the fires to purify the air. Residents said the halls were cleaned, though melted light fixtures have still not been replaced and the walls and ceilings remain blackened.
The Prince George’s County Fire Department has worked with the apartment complex’s management to ensure safety precautions are taken, chief spokesman Mark Brady said.
But even as management has moved to repair the damage, residents are frustrated with the slow progress, which has been compounded by an electrical outage last Saturday and regular water shutdowns.
“[We wonder] why suddenly, so much has happened,” said seventh-floor resident Yulin Zhou. “After so many accidents, they should take some measures.”
Seven Springs management declined to comment.
The first set fire in the building this year was at the base of the elevator tower just before 9 p.m. March 8.
More than two months later, just after 3 a.m. May 11, firefighters responded to a fire on the seventh floor that caused $10,000 of damages, according to a fire department press release. Three days later, just before 4 a.m. May 14 and two fires were set, one on the fourth floor, another on the seventh, directly in front of Jones’ apartment.
Brady said the fires were set using trash and other on-hand materials. All five fires have been linked in the ongoing investigation.
“They don’t appear to be doing physical damages but more creating panic with large amounts of smoke,” Brady said. “A pattern typically seen is escalation where the fires start small but get larger and larger. We may be seeing that in this case.”
Escalation is what residents fear most of all.
No one has suffered any major injuries from the fires, according to fire officials. Some residents were treated for smoke inhalation on the scene of the May 11th fires, but no one required hospital care.
But for some residents, the most serious damage has been psychological.
Zhou said her heart races now anytime she hears anything that could be a fire alarm. Green is considering canceling her lease to preempt what she sees as the inevitable next fire. Senior English and sociology major Stephanie Newton said she is glad to be moving out of her seventh floor apartment and into a different high-rise within the Seven Springs Village complex.
“[The fires are] concerning,” said Jones, a 30-year resident of the building. “This is dangerous stuff. You could take somebody’s life.”
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