RACINE (WITI) -- A 57-year-old woman has been charged with arson after starting a fire at the McMynn Towers apartment building in Racine.
Sheila Branch
Officials responded to the fire call inside apartment 704 on August 20th around 4:10 p.m. Upon arrival, there were fire alarms sounding, standing water on the first floor of the complex, and several tenants had been evacuated.
Michael Hart told police that his girlfriend, Sheila Branch, had started a fire inside their bathroom. Hart claimed Branch had recently been suicidal.
According to police reports, Hart left the apartment for ten minutes and when he came back, he could see and smell smoke in the bathroom but believed the sprinkler system had extinguished it.
Hart said Branch was sitting in a chair taking handfuls of her medication. The woman was taken to Wheaton Franciscan All Saints Hospital for treatment.
Officers discovered a bottle of lighter fluid and two books of matches near where the fire had been started.
No injuries were reported during the incident but 124 residents in the building were affected by the damage caused by the fire.