ORLANDO, Fla. — Hundreds of residents displaced from an Orlando homeless shelter due to a fire in early February could return to that shelter soon.

A fire at the Coalition for the Homeless left more than 200 homeless men looking for somewhere else to stay. The Salvation Army took in 150 of the displaced men.

A spokesperson for the Coalition said they are working with a contractor to get the fire, smoke and water damage fixed, and within a week they should be able to reopen a 90-person shelter and bring back at least some of the residents displaced by the fire.

Capt. Ken Chapman with the Salvation Army said his organization was more than happy to bring the residents into their facility, but it, of course, has been a major adjustment. 

“We had to change around a lot of our programs that we do in this community building," he said. "We’ve displaced people around the campus and our leaders have adapted very well to that. The coalition staff here has been wonderful — if there’s any kind of incident or anything not perfect, they fix it right away.”

Trinette Nation, with the Coalition, said the repair process has been a fluid one. She said that within three to four more weeks, however, they expect to have repairs completed, and at that time they should be able to bring many of the other displaced residents displaced.

Churches also helped in housing some of the men displaced by the fire, and Nation said some have been able to get into permanent housing.

Chapman said the Salvation Army is happy to help, especially because if something happens with the Salvation Army, they may need help some day themselves.

“We help each other on a regular basis, even when we’re not housing 150 people, sometimes we’re doing other things," he said. "I’ll get extra pallets of blankets and we share them with each other. When we collaborate, the community is a better place to live.”