Residents of a St. James Town highrise who were displaced by a fire in the summer have been allowed to return to their homes to retrieve belongings for winter.

Some 1,500 residents have had to make alternate living arrangements since the six-alarm fire in August forced them out of their homes due to electrical damage and safety concerns.

Officials have said it will take months to complete repairs at the building and many of the residents did not take winter clothes with them when they left.

A notice from building management says that residents can re-enter the building between Oct. 22 and Oct. 28 if they sign a waiver and wear proper protective gear.

Residents of the building waited in line for hours Monday to try and get some of their belongings.

Jenna Hossack said she arrived at 9:40 a.m. and didn’t get to the front of the line to go into the building until 2 p.m.

“It’s just been really stressful, really tiring,” Hossack said. “My roommate and I are lucky. We’re single – we don’t have kids or elderly parents. But we’re still living on the other side of town from our work and our friends and our community, not quite sure where we’re going to go next, not really getting a lot of information from the property manager in a timely fashion.”

Residents are not expected to be allowed to reoccupy their units until sometime early in 2019.