SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Families are now trying to pick up the pieces after a devastating fire tore through a Schenectady apartment building on Gray Street early last Wednesday morning. Nine people were displaced and two firefighters were hurt. On Wednesday, NEWS10’s Tyanna Xavier spoke with one of the families about what happened that night and how they’re moving forward.
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“The whole time, I never heard any fire alarms go off, no smoke detectors, anything go off,” said Shamia Jennings, a tenant who lived on second floor and was home during the fire.
Jennings said she did not know why the smoke detectors did not go off. She believed they were intact because they were not making the beeping noise that goes off when the battery gets low.
“From my knowledge, like when a battery does go low, there is like this annoying beep and that would let you know you need to check your alarms, check the batteries or notify, you know, the landlord or whatever if they need to be replaced.”
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Jennings contacted her landlord and he told her that the smoke detectors had built-in 10-year batteries, and if the battery stopped working, you can’t change it, you have to replace the entire alarm. But she added, “He would be responsible for replacing them.”…