Roz Auto Salvage: Residents upset about zoning after homes evacuated in fire

MILWAUKEE-- Richard Major and his family are fired up after being evacuated from their home that's across from Roz Auto Salvage. The business went up in flames Thursday afternoon, spewing smoke downwind.

Richard Major says, \"We were evacuated, the neighbor, the school, my wife has asthma, checked out by service master because we can't breathe.\"

Major has been living in this home for more than 20 years and for the last four years has been petitioning for help from the city each time the property was zoned to expand. One of his main fears was realized in Thursday's fire.

\"We all said what if there was a fire at the storage facility and it went up in flames? He (the owner) said oh no don't worry about that, well yesterday everything went up in smoke.\"

We pulled zoning records and found the salvage yard was built before zoning code was in place but the zonight appeals board did approve an expansion, including, a building for storage and a used car lot.

We contacted Alderman Witkowski to find out why but he was unavailable. Residents say they just want the issue resolved so nothing else happens in the future.

Fire crews say they're still trying to determine the cause of the fire. The owner says he believes it was a propane tank that was leaking.