1 dead, 4 others hurt in Waukesha apartment fire
WAUKESHA, Wisc. (CBS 58) -- A 50-year-old man died following a house fire in the city of Waukesha Tuesday morning, March 8. Four others were injured.
The call came in for a fire near Lambeth Rd. and Haymarket Rd. around 1:25 a.m.
Responding crews found a working fire on the first floor of a four-unit multi-family residence.
Two people jumped from second story windows, and were treated outside, while two others were rescued during a search of the building.
Two women, one in their 50s and another in their 20s, suffered serious, life-threatening injuries. Two men in their 20s suffered non-life threatening injuries. They remain in the hospital.
A closer look inside. One family tells us they lost everything. @CBS58pic.twitter.com/ANPd82ygUJ
— Gabriella Bachara (@GabbyBachara) March 8, 2022
Four other residents were in the building at the time of the fire, two adults and two children. They were not hurt.
Fourteen-year-old Jadien Rivera was one of those children. He returned to what was left of his grandmother's apartment Tuesday afternoon to collect a few untouched belongings.
"I never thought something like this would happen," Rivera said.
Rivera told CBS 58 that he, his aunt and his grandma made it out of one of the first floor apartments uninjured with just the clothes on their backs and their two cats. He said the fire started in the apartment across the hall.
"I just heard someone yell, like, 'There's a fire! There's a fire!' It had me like really scared," Rivera said.
Rivera said his family is staying with his mother, Crystal Marti.
"It was traumatizing just to think you could lose your family in an instant," Marti said.
Marti said everything was destroyed. She started a GoFundMe page to help her mother purchase new necessities. You can find the page here.
Just spoke with Crystal and her son who are collecting the little that’s left after a fire tore through her mother’s apartment building. We will share what they witnessed last night on @CBS58 at 4 and 5 pm.https://t.co/HInLa1EFfb
— Gabriella Bachara (@GabbyBachara) March 8, 2022
"We're just trying the very little bit that we can, you know, but we're going to have to start over," Marti said.
The fire was under control right after 2 a.m., and the cause is still under investigation. Officials do not believe the fire is suspicious.