A repeat arsonist has been charged in connection to an apartment complex fire that led to the evacuation of 150 people and put an elderly woman in the Intensive care unit earlier this month.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office charged 48-year-old Laquita Spears on Jan. 19 with arson and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety.
The fire took place Jan. 13 at New Hampton Gardens apartment complex, 4821 N. 22 St. The building doesn’t have a sprinkler system despite it being built six years after state law required it. The fire reignited city officials’ calls for sprinklers in older multi-unit buildings.
According to a criminal complaint, Spears’ father said she started clothing and furniture on fire inside his apartment following an argument. Spears had been staying at shelters but was living with her father when he kicked her out of the apartment and she set the fire, the complaint said. The father told police that she had been talking to herself and became angry over another family member owing her $5.
Six occupants of the building were treated for smoke inhalation, while another victim was found not breathing and was transported to the hospital where they remain in the burn unit ICU.
A total of six units are uninhabitable and 15 people were assisted by Red Cross.
Spears was arrested at Joy House, a Milwaukee shelter, on Jan. 16. She told police that she squirted lighter fluid on clothing and furniture before lighting it on the fire, the complaint said. She said she didn’t intend to hurt anyone and thought the fire wouldn’t spread.
Spears was previously convicted of arson in 2015 and 2022. If convicted on the new charges, she faces decades behind bars.
Fire chief renews calls for sprinkler systems in older buildings
Fire Chief Aaron Lipski was shocked to learn the 230-unit, three-floor building didn’t have sprinklers, he said during a press conference. The building was built in 1979. The city requires residential buildings 60 feet and higher that were constructed after Nov. 12, 1973, to have sprinkler systems.
“Again, we have a building with no sprinklers,” Lipski said. “I cannot stress the importance of having sprinklers in buildings, especially in multifamily dwellings, especially multifamily dwellings that are housing elderly people who may be a little bit slower.”
Part of the fire department’s investigation will be to understand why the building wasn’t required to have sprinklers, Lipski said.
City officials estimate nearly 70% of Milwaukee’s high-rise buildings were constructed before 1973, with likely 30,000 to 50,000 residents living in units without sprinklers. But city officials say their hands are tied. A state law prohibits Milwaukee from enforcing fire safety laws – like retrofitting sprinklers into older buildings – that are stricter than state law.
People are 90% more likely to survive fires if the property has automatic sprinklers, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
Since the Highland Court apartment fire took five lives last year, Lipski says the fire department and the Department of Neighborhood Services have been working to identify all the multi-unit buildings in Milwaukee that don’t have sprinklers.
Gina Castro contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Repeat arsonist started Jan. 13 fire that put woman in the ICU, police say
Reporting by Drake Bentley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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