For family, loss, hope linger from 2015 Bluffs apartment fire

Out of fire tragedy, some positive changes

EVERETT — She still feels scared when it’s dark outside her bedroom window.

A year ago, the darkness that filled her apartment was smoke.

Victoria Troupe, her husband, Sean, and their son, Henry, aren’t the same since New Year’s Eve 2015. That was the night they barely escaped the devastating fire at the Bluffs apartments on W Casino Road.

For the Troupes, the 12 months that followed have been raw and angry and joyful. They are alive, and they have each other.

They got back a few items, including her wedding ring with the Celtic knot design that matches his.

Most everything else was lost, though, and it’s hard to trust people. The fire started in the unit directly below theirs. The building didn’t have central fire alarms. They had no warning until Henry, then a kindergartener, saw flames.

The three-alarm blaze was the worst in Everett in years. One man died and about 130 people lost their homes. Some dropped their children from upper stories to save their lives. Some jumped, breaking bones as they landed. It took local nonprofits about three months to get nearly everyone into new housing.

The safety problems at the Bluffs became public knowledge. Behind the scenes, the tenants were told conflicting stories about what happened and when crews would sift through the debris. The community came together to help, but the survivors still had to deal with insurance companies and questionable fundraisers and health problems from the smoke they inhaled.

It’s hard for the Troupes to think about the future, with its blessings and its hardships.

Narrow escape

The Christmas decorations still were up at their apartment the night of the fire. They were staying in, watching football. Henry was being rambunctious and was sent to his room to play. He told his mom there was a fire outside. By then, the hallway beyond the front door was blocked by orange, green and blue flames. Smoke engulfed their third-story apartment.

They ran to the dining room window.

Sean Troupe, a military veteran, ordered everyone to keep their shirts over their faces, and he yelled out the window for ladders. He considered hanging from the ledge so his wife and child could climb down his body, lessening the distance they would have to jump. They were rescued at the window by firefighters on a ladder, with moments to spare.

On the ground, Sean Troupe went to check on the neighbors. Then he ran from ambulance to ambulance, looking for his family. When he found them, his head started pounding and he threw up. They rode together to the hospital.

When talking about that night and how he kept his family safe, he repeats the phrase: “I went Marine on them.”

Had built a life

All three have bad dreams about New Year’s Eve.

Sean Troupe can’t go in multi-level buildings without memorizing the fire alarms and exits. He and his wife stayed in a high-rise hotel for her 40th birthday in August. That was progress, their first night away since the fire.

Earlier this summer, there were flames in a trash bin near her mother’s house, where they’re living. They heard the sirens and ran out the door with fire extinguishers. Henry, who is 7 now, was saying, “Not again.”

Everything was OK, but “it’s still a panic PTSD attack in front of God and everyone,” Sean Troupe said.

They couldn’t taste food for weeks, and they all have coughs. The feeling of tightness in Sean Troupe’s chest is something he thought he left behind when he quit smoking in 1998. When he showered after the fire, a “flow of black death” rolled off him. He worries about their exposure to asbestos. They also mourn their three cats, who died that night.

The Bluffs was supposed to be a temporary home while the Troupes recovered from financial setbacks and worked toward something better. Many of their neighbors were in similar situations.

When they moved in, they kept a lot of their possessions in boxes. They were waiting for a nicer place before they set up everything the way they wanted.

“We built a life,” Victoria Troupe said. “You buy little things through time, you collect animals, and even though it’s difficult, it’s yours.”

They never were allowed back into their apartment. For weeks after the fire, no one went in to see what could be salvaged. She would cry when it rained. She knew the water was dripping on whatever was left.

One year later

At Henry’s bus stop a few weeks ago, the kids were talking about Christmas. That stopped Sean Troupe. He hadn’t realized the holidays were coming back around.

“Emotionally, you want to shut down,” he said.

Henry’s parents were glad to see him excited for Santa again. They let him pick out a real Christmas tree. The ornaments and the nativity set handed down from family are gone. Their furniture and clothes all burned or were hauled away to a landfill.

Yet baby photos of both husband and wife were recovered, along with her ring. It has surprised them, what survived and what was lost.

When they show Henry the photos, they tell him the fire didn’t erase the past.

Lingering questions

Victoria Troupe’s mother’s house wasn’t built for so many people. Sean Troupe didn’t grow up there like his wife did, so there’s no “home feeling” for him. He dreams of sleeping in his old bed.

There is no central heating, and they had to reassure Henry about the fireplace. When her mother’s cat had five kittens, the Troupes couldn’t bring themselves to give any away.

In July, Victoria Troupe picked out a new apartment in south Everett. She put down a deposit, after she checked the building for fire alarms. Then she panicked. She wasn’t ready.

The cause of the fire at the Bluffs could not be determined, and questions linger. Sometimes she thinks the worst. Could the fire have been deliberately set? Was somebody smoking in bed? Was a candle knocked over?

Love triumphs

As she prepared to make dinner a year ago on New Year’s Eve, Victoria Troupe set her wedding ring in the cupboard, in a crystal schooner designed for banana splits. The crystal melted around the ring and cradled it from the flames. The knot pattern is softer to the touch now, less pronounced.

The Troupes take off their rings sometimes and place them together. Her ring fits neatly inside of his.

This month marks 19 years that they have been together. September was 14 years since their wedding.

The fire changed everything, even each other. The dark moods are endured together.

They have their little boy, and they want to provide him normal, as much as they can. Henry can play outside in his new neighborhood, unlike at the Bluffs. His favorite game is “construction site,” and he is obsessed with garbage trucks and fire engines.

Victoria Troupe’s ring reminds her of what’s important.

“Our love can survive anything.”

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @rikkiking.