Nearly three months after flames tore through an apartment building in Ogdensburg, the 85 people who lived there have still not been able to return home. There could, however, be some good news on the way.

“When I arrived with the fire units, there was very little of anything visible here on the streets," Ogdensburg Fire Chief Steve Jellie said. "Just as Captain Irving and his crew got to the sixth floor, they realized they had a very serious fire situation with a lot of smoke and a lot of heat conditions.”

It was March 8.

An apartment in the corner of the Riverview Towers caught fire. By the time it was out, nearly four floors were filled with smoke, and every floor below had been damaged by the water needed to put it out.

The building's 85 occupants could no longer safely live there.

Jellie said the calm response by the people allowed all to get out safely.

“Seeing all the occupants doing exactly what the fire plan was designed to do - they stayed in their rooms and waited to be directed by the fire department,” Jellie said.

While he said when tenants got out, there was an awful lot of confusion, it was the focus and dedication of agencies in and around the community that helped ensure everyone found a place to go.

“It was, in every essence, a true team effort to step up and help those that experienced a crisis and a tragedy, and get them the things that they needed,” Jellie said.

The specific information investigators need to determine exactly what happened has yet to come, and may never come. The person who lived in the apartment that caught fire is still in critical condition and still cannot talk with investigators. So for now, the investigation is on pause.

“We want to talk with him about the potential of unauthorized smoking going on in the room in the presence of oxygen. We’ve got a couple of unanswered question. We hope the victim makes a recovery, and we’re able to communicate with him to be able to finalize the investigation,” Jellie said.

Despite that, there is good news on the horizon.

The Ogdensburg Housing Authority has been cleaning things up so that people can begin to move back in. That could happen in as soon as month.

“I think within the next 30 days, you’ll start to see some level of reoccupation. As we get into the summer months, I think you’ll see consecutively more released back. By fall I think you’ll see darn near 100% occupancy,” Jellie said.