A group of fire and city code enforcement officials met Thursday morning on the cinder-covered sidewalk outside of the China Palace restaurant to tour the building, which was ravaged by fire on Wednesday.

Capt. Jim Kaufman of the Butler Fire Department estimated the total damages to the building and its contents at about $250,000.

He said 10 fire departments responded to the smoky blaze Wednesday afternoon, where firefighters struggled to control the fire because flames hid between the three layers of roofing on the building.

John Evans, the city's zoning officer and building code official, said the building has been condemned and the owner, which is listed as Alpine Apartments, must secure all windows and entrances to make the building safe.

He said the owner can rebuild or tear down the building, and will be given a deadline to do so by city officials.

“We are working with the owner,” Evans said.

He said the property, which has housed an oyster house, various stores, an appliance retailer and Exile Records over the years, is well-built with a fire wall in the middle.

He said the fire wall did its job of not allowing the flames in one half to encroach much on the other half. That was evidenced in the building inspection, when Evans saw heavy fire damage on the west end of the building and only smoke and water damage on the east end.

“Rather than letting the fire spread to the next building, (the fire wall) helped to keep it contained in that area,” Evans said.

He said the city will work with the property owner after insurance adjusters complete their tasks.

“Hopefully (the owners) will have some plan of attack within the next two weeks,” Evans said.

Some of the residents of the 14 second-floor apartments that were damaged or destroyed by the fire returned Thursday morning to retrieve any belongings they could salvage.

Firefighters led people one-by-one up the water-damaged steps and to their homes, where they retrieved charred pictures, Christmas gifts, wallets and purses or anything else that was not ruined or burned in the blaze.

The apartment farthest to the west appeared entirely black inside, while seemingly untouched items could be seen in the windows of the apartments on the east end of the building.

Breanna Robinson returned home from work in mid-afternoon on Wednesday when she noticed her neighbor half-naked behind the building.

“She said 'the building is on fire' and then I saw smoke start billowing out of the windows,” Robinson said.

Because her apartment suffered some of the worst damage in the blaze, Robinson lost a lifetime of art and all her art equipment, a large DVD collection and the Blu-ray DVD player she got for Christmas, a king sized bed, a flat-screen TV, all of her clothes and her identification.

“I'm glad I have work clothes so I can go to work,” she said.

Robinson said the lights had been flickering in the building all week, and the sole exit from her apartment is beside the electrical service entrance.

Robinson shudders to think what might have happened if she and her boyfriend had been sleeping when the fire broke out.

“We would have been trapped,” she said.

Robinson said she was homeless and drug dependent two years ago, and is now clean and working hard to improve her life.

“You work your way up from the bottom, which was (a result of) my own choices, and then something like this happens and there's no one to blame,” she said.

Robinson's mother is collecting things for her daughter at her place of employment and Robinson planned to visit the Red Cross office after checking out her apartment.

Her co-workers and supervisors at Dunkin' Donuts on Main Street have given her clothes, money for food, extra shifts and moral support.“We're like a family there,” Robinson said.She is glad all of her neighbors escaped the fast-moving fire and are uninjured, although she knows many lost everything.“Everything else is material and you can replace it,” Robinson said. “I'm just glad everyone got out.”Christina Sullivan and her two young children had lived in their apartment for five months. They were not home when the fire broke out, but her brother-in-law, Daniel Toner, was there.Toner initially ignored the blaring smoke alarm, thinking it was the result of someone cooking.Then he caught a wisp of smoke out of the corner of his eye.“When I opened the door, a wall of smoke hit me,” Toner said. “I was running into everything trying to make it to the stairs. That smoke was so thick.”He called 911 once outside and firefighters arrived within minutes, Toner said.Richard Bruno lived in his apartment for more than six years.He received a debit-type card loaded with $355 from the Red Cross, which they recommended he spend on lodging. But Bruno ran from the building with only the clothes on his back and now has nothing to wear to work.“I bought some clothes and toiletries with the card,” said Bruno who was not sure where he would stay in the upcoming nights.He said the landlord is looking into placing the West Jefferson Street residents in other apartments the company owns.Bruno lost his wallet, 55-inch and 32-inch smart TVs, a custom-built gaming computer, a printer, and other devices.“My clothes, I'm not that concerned with and I'll find other furniture,” he said. “I'm most tore up about my electronics.”Bruno stared vacantly at his home, now burnt and foul-smelling.“I was homeless before my apartment and now I'm homeless again,” he said.A cause of the fire was not available on Thursday because the fire marshal could not be reached.