Devastating Cobalt Apartment fire investigation

More than 100 Wesley Chapel residents lost everything in a massive fire at the Cobalt Apartments last month. Many want to know why the fire alarms never sounded and now Pasco commissioners are asking the fire chief whether stricter building codes could prevent another disaster. FOX 13's Kylie Jones is in the newsroom with the fire chief's explanation and why a quick fix isn't so simple. Kylie. Yeah a lot of questions but a lot of things were working properly but most of those residents lost everything. The fire destroyed that building in the Cobalt apartment complex and it has since been condemned. But after the fire a lot of people have been raising concerns because they say those fire alarms didn't go off. Well last week the Pasco County fire chief spoke at the county commission meeting about what can and what can't be changed. Now the fire last month if you'll remember sparked from a lightning strike. It sent building two of the Cobalt Apartments in Wesley Chapel up in flames damaging more than a hundred units. A lot of people lost every single thing. At last week's county commission meeting the fire chief said the lightning strike disabled the fire alarm panels and roofing systems. He says there were multiple structural collapses throughout the building as a result of dumping nearly two million gallons of water on that fire. That's why the building was ultimately condemned. County officials are waiting to hear from the property owners about what they plan to do with the building. Commissioners questioned whether any codes could be changed to prevent this. The fire chief said under the current system the apartment complex follows those sprinklers aren't required in the attic. He explained that operating with a different graded system is significantly more expensive. They also answered questions about lightning protection on the building. For every building other than a hospital that is regulated by ACCA lightning protection is not required. Similarly the running cost for lightning protection system is about one to three percent additional to the cost of the total project. Now however the Florida Building Commission did look at lightning protection in 2018 and those changes failed to meet the threshold to become adopted. Now that was a county official talking with the fire chief but the chief said that up until 2021 multi-family complexes under three stories actually weren't required to have sprinkler systems at all. So he says things have moved forward but county officials also explained that codes are set at the state level and that changes need to be based on local data. Again the building has been condemned so all of those people have had to find new homes. A number of them reached out to us and said management hasn't been in touch with them about next steps. The entire building is not completely destroyed by the fire so like the units at the bottom are more structured and put together so there is people who are going inside that property and they're not completely secure. That's a huge concern as well for our residents because they don't have the opportunity to salvage their property that is in good condition. Now that is attorney Lucy Robinson out of Orlando. She says they've reached out to property management but they have not heard back yet. They're representing more than two dozen clients or residents from the apartment complex at this point. Now we reached back out to property management for the cobalt apartments. A spokesperson doubled down saying they have communicated with residents and that they have not blocked residents from communication. As far as social media and online goes management says they've moderated social media only when misinformation or personal attacks against staff were made. A spokesperson for the cobalt apartments also said quote as far as the condemning of the building goes this was not a management decision and we are legally prohibited from allowing anyone residents staff or vendors to enter the structure until authorities determine it's safe. Residents seeking retrieval of personal items have been directed to the fire investigator as authorization for entry is outside of management's control. So Haley a lot of questions for these people still and just a lot to navigate regardless. Yeah. Kylie Jones reporting tonight. Kylie thank you.