As ServPro crews amassed a pile of charred debris near the flame-impacted section on Friday, residents who live in the other part of the building filtered in to salvage what was left.
At least two apartments are completely destroyed by fire - hoses and sprinklers apparently soaked more than the fire in an additional 34 units. Nicole Sanzo, who lives below and to the side of the apartment where the fire generated, said she saw water pouring into her home from the room above.
"Going in, I kind of expected the worst," Sanzo said, returning Friday to survey the progress of ServPro driers.
"A lot of furniture was ruined, like mattresses and stuff and couple of our like, TVs were ruined," she said, happy to have saved a computer and some clothes.
"I was actually pretty surprised that not as much was ruined as I thought," she said.
Other tenants touring the damage told FOX 61 they fared worse than Sanzo, though the Wethersfield native appears to have had a bout of bad luck.
"It's only been actually a week since we've moved in and so far it's been going OK but we've experienced a lot of water damage from our washing machine flooding our apartment. So now we have more water damage from the fire," Sanzo said.
The game continues to be hurry up and wait: investigators need to figure out what caused the fire, insurers need to assess the total damage and building inspectors need to give tenants the OK to come home.
"We're pretty settled. We're at a hotel at the moment that the Red Cross put us in," said Sanzo. "I would definitely still come back here afterwards."
A representative for the apartment complex told FOX 61 that all residents are required to have renter's insurance which might reimburse tenants for items they lost.