Almost six months after a fire at a senior apartment complex in Richton Park left one woman dead and damaged several floors, some residents remain displaced and are in need of funds.

Gloria Smith, 80, has lived at the Cedar Ridge Elderly apartments, an affordable senior living housing complex, for nearly eight years. She says she enjoys living there and feels fortunate to have returned to her fifth-floor apartment just a week after the December fire, which caused only minor damage to her floor.

Still, Smith sympathizes with fellow residents who remain displaced, staying in hotels or with family as they wait to return.

“Some people just don’t have family to look out for them, to be able to help them do what they’re supposed to do,” Gloria Smith said. “Some of them … they don’t even know how to contact Red Cross to get help.”

The fire began on the third floor, severely damaging the entire level, while water damage affected the floors below. The upper levels had heavy smoke and a strong odor from the flames, according to fire Chief Mick Smith.

Although crews were able to ventilate the building and clear most of the smoke from the top three floors shortly after the fire, Smith previously told the Daily Southtown the entire building was evacuated and all residents were assisted in finding temporary housing.

Illinois Realtors Disaster Relief Foundation, which aids communities affected by natural disasters, is providing $500 grants to Cedar Ridge residents still displaced by the fire, according to Jeff Baker, its CEO.

Each household is eligible for one grant, and staff and Realtors in Richton Park are available to help residents complete the application and expedite the process of receiving their funds, Baker said.

“We realize that is not obviously a ton of money, but it’s something when people are having to stay in hotels and don’t have a kitchen to cook meals in, and have lost a lot of their belongings,” he said. So our philosophy is every little bit helps.”

To apply, residents must complete a form verifying they lived in the building at the time of the fire and confirming they are unable to return due to the damage, Baker said.

“We try to keep it really, really simple,” he said. “There’s no sense in adding a whole other burden on top of folks who are already going through a world of hurt.”

Baker said village officials and the property manager at the complex have aided residents in funding temporary housing until the building can be repaired, but many of the residents are still living in hotels as repairs continue, and available financial support is rapidly diminishing.

“They were the ones who let us know that the funding for that temporary housing was getting low, and it was quite a burden, obviously,” Baker said. “We have a foundation that’s established for this very purpose, so we kicked it into high gear and got it moving as quick as we could to try to help in what little way that we could.”

Gloria Smith said the third floor of the six-story apartment complex remains empty, as well as half of the first floor and half of the second, as repairs are underway.

When the complex was evacuated, most residents were housed with family members and the remainder were provided rooms in hotels, the fire chief said.

Smith considers herself fairly mobile for her age and has no trouble accessing the services she needs to get around. But she worries about others who may not know how to get help, especially those still displaced months after the fire.

“Are you saving your money? Are you looking for a place to stay, just in case? See, I know how to do that. But think about the people that can’t do it. They are in wheelchairs, don’t have a car, you know, they can’t get out,” she said.

Some residents were offered the chance to move into another building owned by the property management company, but one woman Smith knows declined, choosing instead to wait for her original apartment. She wants the comfort and familiarity of the place she knows and calls home.

The property management company, Benchmark communities, could not be reached. A voicemail message at the Cedar Ridge Elderly leasing office said the office is closed until Friday.

The fire broke out at 9:58 p.m. Dec. 1, according to Chief Smith. When crews arrived, they saw smoke and flames coming from a third-floor window and discovered a woman with serious injuries. She was transported to Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, where she later died from her injuries.

A public information officer for the Illinois State Fire Marshal did not immediately return a message inquiring on the results of the investigation.

smoilanen@chicagotribune.com