OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Local officials were scheduled to meet today with representatives from American Red Cross and the Salvation Army to come up with a plan for residents displaced after a recent fire, said Assistant Town Manager V. Louise Reid.

Firefighters responded Thursday at 1 a.m. at Centennial Plaza apartments, located at 6 School St. Fire officials say the cause of the blaze was a cooking accident in the kitchen of a first-floor unit.

The building provides income-based rentals to people 62 years old and older and those with disabilities.

Last week American Red Cross of Maine spokesman John Lamb said the agency was putting up 25-30 people in a hotel for a few days, and then would work with town officials to assist people with the recovery process.

In a phone interview early Monday morning, Fire Chief Ricky Plummer said residents from one half of the building should be able to move back in the next couple of days. He said he wasn’t sure when residents from the other half of the building, where the damage was heaviest, could return.

Centennial Plaza resident Beverly Russell, well known for her work with the town’s Community Animal Watch group and other civic efforts, wrote a letter of thanks to everyone who assisted. She said she and others are staying at the Hampton Inn in Saco.

“I am sure some would have died in that building if the Police, and Fire Deptments had not raced through the building, so fast, to get us all out,” she wrote.

Russell said she and another resident couldn’t see because of heavy smoke, and she fell in the stairway.

“Then the door to the stairway opened and there were the police, and firemen, grabbing us and pulling us out,” she wrote.

Russell also thanked the local Animal Control Department, the Red Cross and the Volunteers in Police Service for their help in making sure people and their pets were taken care of.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext.325 or egotthelf@journaltribunecom.