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Warsaw officials plan to fine a landlord who left his tenants in the cold this weekend.
A family of four in a two-bedroom rental unit has had no central heat since October. Their landlord said today he has hired a local heating contractor to replace the apartment's furnace, but the contractor can't get to the job for one to two weeks.
In the meantime, the family, which includes two toddlers, must make do with a space heater. The landlord said he has no choice because he has no place else for the family to go.
The family, which asked not to be identified, lives on Smith Street.
The father said this morning that they huddled in their apartment over the weekend, using the space heater. "It wasn't too bad," he said. "It was around 60 in here."
Warsaw officials have been aware of the family's plight since Friday, when temperatures began to plummet to dangerous levels.
City building inspector Pam Kennedy said today she will seek to fine the landlord. Under city codes, the landlord could be fined $25 for the first day and $50 per day thereafter.
"We've spent so much time working with landlords to educate them about code compliance that to have something like this happen is really appalling," she said.
Combined 'ommunity Services offered to provide the family emergency housing, but the family declined because there were no kitchen facilities.
Meanwhile, businesses that help people cope with the frigid conditions were kept busy over the weekend.
With temperatures below zero this weekend and wind chill factors as low as 30 degrees below, calls about balky furnaces and frozen pipes flooded area heating and plumbing companies.
"We've been swamped this weekend with service calls," said Collier's Heating and Air Conditioning in Warsaw.
Harold Higginbotham, of Wayne Heating Installation, Milford, said this morning, "Our service guys have just about more than they can handle right now."
Wrecker services also were kept hopping by motorists whose cars refused to start in the cold. "The boys haven't slept a whole lot this weekend. We've had about 40 this morning within about an hour," said an employee of Glen's Wrecker in Warsaw.
Weather services predict rising temperatures in the 20s for most of the week, but toward Thursday and Friday nighttime lows are expected to sink again into the single digits.
Lows tonight will range from zero north and central to around 5 above south, the National Weather Service said.
The warmup begins Tuesday under partly sunny skies as southerly winds boost highs from 20 to 30 degrees.
