ABC-7 Listens: Man says heater was out, complex fixed

ABC-7 warned you about the chilly temperatures rolling through the Borderland. Now, imagine spending the first freeze of the season without a heater.

One man told ABC-7 that’s what he did Wednesday evening into Thursday. John Selmon’s apartment comes with a heating and cooling system, but he had to improvise because the heat wasn’t working.

“We got by by bundling up and we bought some space heaters,” Selmon said. He and his wife have lived in Villa Sierra on the 2400 block of McKinley Avenue for six months. They thought they’d be prepared for when the chilly air hit the desert, but were caught off guard instead.

Selmon said he’s never had any issues with the complex, aside from the heat not working for the past two weeks.

“We (were) freezing. I mean, the rent here ain’t cheap,” Selmon said. “We’re paying pretty much the top rent so we expect a little bit of consideration like heat.”

Bridge Property Management didn’t deny the heat was out and instead explained what happened in an e-mailed statement from spokeswoman Stacey Manzella:

“We started the process of switching the chiller system to the boiler system last week. Unfortunately we ran into a few obstacles that prevented us from moving as quickly as we had hoped. A pipe broke that we had to order a replacement part for which we are still waiting for to come in. We have been told by the company who is doing the work for us that the part should be in tonight or tomorrow . As soon as we receive the part we will have the heat turned on for our residents. We are absolutely not refusing to turn the heat on for our residents and are doing everything to get the heat turned on as soon as possible.”

“It just barely started about 20 minutes ago,” Selmon said about the heater when ABC-7 arrived at his apartment Thursday afternoon.

A city of El Paso inspector also went out to the apartment complex Thursday to see what was happening. The inspector watched someone repair the equipment, which the management company said was a broken pipe.