MIDVALE, Utah — It's been close to a month and a half since hundreds were forced to leave what they called home: the North Union Apartments in Midvale.
"The past six weeks have been hard, there's been a lot of change, a lot of unexpected change, I'll go to grab something and remember 'Oh I don't have this anymore’ and then I'll have to go buy it,” said Bella Arnold, who used to live in the North Union Apartments.
The past six weeks have been hard for everyone who lived at the North Union Apartments after a fire destroyed parts of the fourth floor and water damage left many valuables soaked and moldy.
It's why even six weeks later, there are still people trying to help them pick up the pieces.
"If you're in a position to help, like I'm in the position to create something, so I wouldn't understand why you wouldn't if you had the ability to do it,” said Bill Rowe, the owner of the Watershed Pub and Kitchen.
The Watershed Pub and Kitchen is right across the street from the North Union Apartments. Through raffles, silent auctions and Venmo payments, the pub's trying to pitch in to help the people who used to be their neighbors.
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"It's hard because a lot of the guests that come in here are family, they become family, they come in a lot, we get to know them, we get to meet them, we know them personally,” said Rowe. “So, watching somebody you care about go through what they're going through is horrible."
While the pub's hoping to raise $20,000, firefighters are hoping to conclude their investigation about what exactly caused the calamity that left many scrambling for a new home in a matter of hours.
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"They look at every single piece of evidence, go step by step through things, to identify every possible source of ignition and say 'ok was this the cause? Could this have be the cause? Or this wasn't the cause whatsoever,’” said Cpt. Patrick Costin of the Unified Fire Authority. “That takes time with such a big building."
Meanwhile, folks are making do with what irreplaceable memories they could recover.
"This was when me and my boyfriend got together in high school and this was when we got back together three years ago,” said Arnold.
And making peace with what they couldn't.
"I'm grateful to save the ones that I could, I wish I could have saved more but at the same time, all those other pictures, they live in my head, I'll remember them,” said Arnold.
