Milwaukee apartment fire; tenants claim money being kept from them
A fire broke out at a Milwaukee apartment building on Thursday, May 1.
Tenants say money is being kept from them because of it.
FOX6 News did not hear back from Berrada Properties.
MILWAUKEE - Tenants of an apartment building damaged by fire say money is being kept from them because of it.
What we know
The fire happened on Thursday, May 1, near 85th and Fairy Chasm. There is extensive smoke damage inside the building.
Days after a fire tore through the apartment building owned by Berrada Properties on Milwaukee's far north side, Robert Bickham is just starting to sort things out.
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"I'm just overwhelmed, exhausted, mentally drained," Bickham said. "It's almost like living in a nightmare where you just haven't woken up from."
On Thursday, he arrived home to his eight-unit apartment to see that nightmare unfolding. He watched as firefighters quenched the flames. Days later, he got a look inside.
"The whole building was just in smoke, just big black smoke going off," he said. "My clothes personally are just ruined. Everything is either water damaged or it's just smoked up or burnt."
Dig deeper
Now he said his landlord is making matters worse after what he was told on Monday, May 5.
"[I was told] You pretty much need to try and clear out all your property, and we'll give you your security deposit back," he recalled.
Bickham said he went to the building to get some of his belongings to find a mess. He doesn't think it's fair, and said he is being told to clean out his unit, or risk losing his security deposit.
"It's just charred. Everything is completely charred," he said. "The door's off [...] It's like holding your money at ransom or something."
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Bickham said he's not sure what he will do next.
"It's hard to kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel when something like this happens," he said.
What we don't know
FOX6 News did not hear back from Berrada Properties.
The Milwaukee Fire Department said the fire has been deemed undetermined as it remains under investigation.
The Source
The information in this post was collected and produced by FOX6 News, with additional information from the Milwaukee Fire Department.
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