Four people died after a fire broke out at an apartment building in Milwaukee on Sunday, May 11, authorities have said
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic fire that occurred,” the Milwaukee Fire Department wrote in a Facebook post
The fire department confirmed that people jumped from the residential building in an attempt to escape the blaze
Four people have died after a fire broke out at an apartment building in Milwaukee on Mother’s Day, authorities have confirmed.
On the morning of Sunday, May 11, the blaze tore through a four-story residential building in the city’s Concordia neighborhood, the Milwaukee Fire Department confirmed in a Facebook post.
The American Red Cross, which is helping those displaced or in need of support following the tragedy, said in a Facebook post that the incident happened near 27th Street and Highland Boulevard.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic fire that occurred,” the MFD wrote.
Four lives were lost, and many others have been displaced and deeply affected by this heartbreaking event. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and everyone impacted by this tragedy,” the fire department added.
The MFD’s post included, “We also extend gratitude to the first responders dispatched from additional municipalities who responded to assist and act quickly with courage, compassion, and integrity.”
In a media briefing, Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski confirmed the fire department responded to the blaze just before 8 a.m. local time on Sunday, per a clip shared by Fox-owned local station WITI’s Fox 6 Milwaukee. He added that four people had been transported to the hospital in critical condition; approximately 30 people were rescued.
ipski said that the building, which was built in 1968, did not have a sprinkler system, per the Associated Press. It had been constructed before it was legally required to have one installed, the news agency stated.
“If we had sprinklers in the building, we would have stopped the fire very, very small. We would not of had to have people jumping out of windows,” he said, AP noted. “We would not have had to [pull] people out of windows. We would not have had to have dragged people down hallways to rescue them and we would have not had four fatalities today.”
Multiple other residents were treated for lesser injuries in the blaze, which has left the building “completely uninhabitable,” Lipski said, per the Fox 6 Milwaukee clip. The fire chief estimated around 200 people could have been displaced from the 85-unit building amid the fire.
The firefighters who initially arrived on the scene were “far, far outmatched” by the flames, the AP reported, citing Lipski.
Our firefighters, ascending from the second floor to the third floor were fighting fire blowing down the stairwell at them. If you know anything about fire, it doesn’t normally travel downward,” Lipski added, per Fox 6 Milwaukee.
One of the building’s residents, James Rubinstein, recalled escaping from the fire. “There was so much smoke. I climbed out the courtyard with my cat in my backpack. [I] jumped to the ground floor and ran out,” Rubinstein said, according to the outlet.
An investigation is underway, and the fire’s cause is yet to be announced. “We stand with our Milwaukee community in this time of grief and healing,” the MFD concluded in its Facebook post.
The MFD didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information.
