DAYTON — UPDATE @ 12:38 a.m. (July 30): Eighteen residents from the Wilkinson Plaza Apartments were loaded onto an RTA bus and taken to a local hotel where they will live temporarily because of the electrical outage to several floors in the 14-story building Wednesday.
The coordinated effort that involved RTA, the Red Cross, Greater Dayton Premier Management and the Dayton Fire Department was an hours-long process because of procedures put in place as a result of the issues with COVID-19, District Chief Adam Landis said.
“What it entailed was moving a lot of folks down the stairs,” Landis said, many of whom “had difficulty moving in that regard.”
City fire crews were dispatched to the apartment building, 126 W. Fifth St., late Wednesday afternoon on a report that power was out on several floors of the building stemming from maintenance work, Landis said. One of the initial reports given through Montgomery County Regional Dispatch was that floors 8 through 14 were without power and that repairs could take up to two days.
Karla Knox-Gordon, part of the maintenance emergency team with Greater Dayton Premier Management, declined comment.
John, a resident who asked that his full name not be used, has lived in the building seven years. He now occupies a 10th-floor unit and said he initially lost power in his apartment at 8:15 a.m.. The power had been on and off all day.
About 10 p.m., he was among residents who had been moved from the affected floors to a community room on the ground floor.
“I’m tired and hungry right now,” John said, noting he wasn’t sure at that point where he would end up.
Cox Media Group
