Within their scope: Calls made to emergency services justified at Scope Towers

Austin Johnson, The Daily Independent, Ashland, Ky.
Updated ·4 min read

ASHLAND Fire alarms and elevator malfunctions at Scope Towers in Ashland prompt frequent calls to emergency services.

Residents of Scope Towers — a Kentucky Housing Authority complex of 262 apartments in two buildings for low-income families at 3101 Winchester Ave. — have made 34 calls to emergency services since Jan. 1, according to the Ashland Fire Department.

Mike Miller, the executive director of Kentucky Housing Authority Ashland — which is over Scope Towers and DeBord Terrace — said the elevator issues are nothing to be concerned about. With the conveyor in the buildings transporting people up and down the floors all day, problems are expected, he said.

“If you hold the elevator door for too long, that can make it malfunction and stop unexpectedly. I also have folks that will sometimes push multiple buttons, then there are just maintenance issues with it as much use as they get,” he said.

“I know the elevators were replaced not too long before I took over in 2016,” Miller added, “but the elevators run 24/7, 365 days a year, so they get a lot, I mean a lot, of use .… There is a possibility we will look at replacing those in the future, but that’s not going to stop the amount of use the elevator gets.”

According to reports from the Ashland Fire Department, 11 of the 34 calls were made for subjects trapped in an elevator.

On Jan. 26, a call was made for one person trapped in an elevator. According to the report, crews arrived to find a subject on the third floor.

On Feb. 3, a call was made for a subject trapped in the elevator on the third floor. Crews manually opened the doors freeing the person stuck.

On March 13, a call was made for a subject trapped in an elevator

On May 4, a call was made for subjects stuck in a stalled elevator. The elevator was reset using the fire service recall feature to free the occupants, according to the report.

A majority of calls were made for commercial fire alarms caused by cooking smoke, burned food and steam. Twenty-three of these calls were made from Jan. 1 to May 10.

Claudia Rogers, who lives on the second floor of one of the buildings, was making her way to the outside area where she was going to sit with her friends, but she was halted by becoming stuck in the elevator.

“We couldn’t get them open, we were locked in,” Rogers said. “The fire department was here in a few minutes. I was glad because I am claustrophobic, I was not doing real well.”

“Sometimes we will hear ‘don’t get in the left elevator because it’s not working right.’ Everybody has got stuck at least one time,” she said, laughing.

Other than the elevator issue one time, she said her well-being of living at Scope Towers couldn’t be better. Since her arrival she has adopted a dog named Coco and made friends. They gather to have dinner.

“I love this place. I really do,” Rogers said.

Unity Baptist Church has come to the rescue multiple times, bringing a lift chair, food and safety rails along her toilet, she said.

Income limits, or max income made in one year, varies on the size of the household.

Family size of one is $13,050; size of two is $17,420; size of three is $21,960; size of four is $26,500; five is $31,040; and size of six is $35,580.

Steve Alley, Ashland Fire Chief ,said Scope Towers is viewed as one location, but when you break it down into the two buildings, the amount of calls coming into the fire department is low.

“We have had fires within that building; those alarms are designed so that it gives us as early notification as we can,” Alley said. “I would much rather have a very sensitive system that we respond to due to the high hazard of high occupancies in those buildings.

“By no means do I take the amount of calls we get there as negative. That is something that is our job to go check,” Alley added.

Miller is “confident” in the safety of the residents in both buildings, he said.

“I feel fairly confident in the safety of our residents,” Miller said. “We have off-duty Ashland Police Officers that work seven days a week, at least four hours at a time. When office hours are closed we have off-duty officers that work four hours, seven days a week, when we are not here, so you have coverage either through the office or through APD off-duty police officers. That would be 12 hours a day that someone can report to on site.”