No A/C, no answers: Tenants struggle in Laurel apartment with no A/C during heat wave

Laurel apartment without AC during extreme heat warning

Tenants at one apartment are suffering through the extreme heat warning after not having air conditioning for a week.

LAUREL, Md. - All across the D.C. region, keeping cool in a heat wave can be challenging at best. But what if your home has A/C that’s not working? That’s the situation for dozens of families in one apartment community in Maryland.

What they're saying:

"It’s hot. That’s all I can say. It’s hot. It really is," said Pandora Galtin."And my babies and them… they’ve given me the strength because they don’t show what I feel."

Pandora Gatling is taking care of her four grandchildren and a goddaughter in her home that she says hasn’t had A/C for more than a week.

"We have water fights. We have plenty of ice. Plenty of water. You know what I’m saying? I do activities to keep their mind off of this."

This is The Elms of Laurel Park in Maryland City, not far from the racetrack. The thermostat reads 88 degrees in Pandora’s apartment. Same reading upstairs in the fourth-floor apartment of her friend and neighbor, Anastazia Adams.

"It’s a huge mess, Ms. Adams says.  I have never lived in a place like this. The A/C goes out like every month. The heat goes out every month and it’s usually two to three weeks before we get anything. We didn’t even get a notice until Tuesday, and their way of fixing it was putting water bottles by the elevator and free ice cream in the leasing office that’s never open. They’re closed now."

Anastazia says her 15-year-old daughter Molette is having a tough time with the heat in their home. So too is their 14-year-old dog, Glorybell.

"I’m terrified to leave the house because I’m afraid I’m going to come back to a heat-exhausted dog or heat-exhausted child. I’m about to leave and take my daughter to the ER now because she is wobbly, and I can’t do anything to cool her off."

Anne Arundel County Health Department staff were in the building checking in on residents. But nobody was at the leasing office on Monday when FOX 5 DC knocked on the door. 

Hamza Iqbal says, "My house is 85°. We’re all burning up, sweating. I couldn’t go to sleep last night at all."

Asked if he’s had any explanation from the property manager, Iqbal says, "No, no time. No nothing. Nothing at all."

Iqbal says he’s an EMT. 

"And you know, as an EMT you can easily get heat stroke in these types of conditions. Even with the window open, the humidity is too much. It’s not really going to help. This is horrible. Absolutely horrible. And I feel bad for our neighbors who are geriatrics who can’t even take care of themselves. It’s heartbreaking."

What's next:

FOX 5 has reached out in several ways to speak to a property manager without any luck. Anne Arundel County officials say they’ve been told a problem with the building’s chiller should be fixed tomorrow—and the county will enforce that—even though there is no county code requirement for them to provide air conditioning like it does for them to provide heat during the winter.