Milwaukee warehouse fire; woman arrested as raze order issued

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee police arrested a 22-year-old woman in connection with a 5-alarm fire that tore through a vacant warehouse near 32nd and Hampton on Wednesday, May 20.

What we know:

The Milwaukee Police Department confirmed Thursday that a 22-year-old woman was arrested in connection with the fire. Charges will be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.

Firefighters were called to the scene just before 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday. When fire crews got there, they found flames coming from all four floors of the warehouse.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android

The southwest corner of the building collapsed during the response, and no injuries were reported.

Firefighters were still at the scene more than 24 hours later, working around the clock and blocking off streets around the property.

The building has also been ordered to be demolished after city officials said the fire and instability of the structure created a severe public safety threat.

What they're saying:

"When we got here and saw the fire," said Jarell Davis, a neighbor. "It was going crazy!"

Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said much of the remaining building was at risk of collapse.

"Much of the remaining building is very collapse-prone, so we have to be very careful," he said. "We're working with the department of neighborhood services, and an emergency raze order has been obtained, I believe."

The Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services said the demolition process was underway and could happen before the end of the week.

In a written statement, DNS said the fire and instability of the building "created a severe public safety threat" and that the department "expedited the emergency order to raze the property and have the authority to hire contractors to address."

SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News

The news came as a relief to some neighbors, including Theo Benson, who said the vacant building had long been an eyesore.

"I'm happy, it's an eyesore," Benson said. "I used to walk up and down the streets, up and down, and it’s kind of spooky because walking up on that bridge, you can never know. That’s like a blind spot." 

Dig deeper:

DNS said once the building is down, it will take about two weeks to finish cleaning the site. The area will remain fenced off to keep people out of the work zone.

The debris removal process could take 15 days to complete.