“It’s the closest thing around:” Fire destroys dollar store, residents react

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – A fire, believed to have been intentionally set, destroyed a Family Dollar store on Milwaukee’s north side Saturday afternoon.

A day after the fire near Hampton and Teutonia, residents say the neighborhood is at a loss.

“It’s the closest thing around,” Calvin Collins said. “It was just convenient, it was there and now it isn’t there anymore.”

Collins said he went to the store every other day.

Fire officials were called to the scene around 3:30 p.m. Authorities say everyone got out of the store safely.

Milwaukee Police say one person was taken into custody. Witnesses on the scene tell CBS 58 they saw a little boy get arrested.

“Shocking, surprising,” Resident Charles Hudson said. “I thought this neighborhood was coming up.”

Hudson says the store wasn’t only convenient because of the location but because of the prices.

“You got women with kids, families, large families, small families, they depended on this,” he said. “Now I have to go further out to get stuff.”

Investigators were on the scene Sunday morning. There’s no word on the cause of the fire or any other details of the arrest.