COVINGTON - After catching fire Wednesday night, one of the Dolly Ann Apartment buildings is boarded up.
The roof is gone, windows broken, and debris litters the ground.
It looks bad, but Jeff Waller, the man responsible for renovating the building, says it could have been much worse.
“I was really surprised to see that it wasn't damaged any worse than it was and I’m glad that it's not. I expected to see it in a lot worse shape than it is,” Waller explained.
Waller and his crew work for a non-profit renovating all the buildings at Dolly Ann Apartments.
He says it's so disappointing to have gotten the call that the building was on fire, because they just started working on it three days ago and what they had gotten done in three days it took them 15 days to do on the last project.
Waller didn't witness the fire, but did have some idea of what to expect when he showed up at work.
“I was watching it actually over channel 10 news on the computer.”
Kim Smallwood took a picture from a nearby ballpark as she watched her son's practice.
“I got out of my vehicle and turned around and looked back and that's when I noticed some black smoke in the air coming from behind the ball park,” said Smallwood. “It was a ball of flames, it was basically a ball of flames.”
All in all, the fire chief says the damage is estimated to be around $400,000.
He believes it started on the third floor after workers soldered copper pipes together.
The fire is an unfortunate set back, but Waller makes this promise.
“Things happen and it'll be the nicest building on the property just like I said.”
Professional investigators are expected to come out and assess the damage soon and determine the official cause.
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