'Let's stop this from happening again:' Families of victims speak out after fatal apartment fire

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3 days ago

As Milwaukee continues to mourn one of its deadliest fires in decades, those closest to the victims are urging the community to remember them and make sure a similar tragedy does not happen again.
Five people lost their lives on Mother's Day when a fire tore through Highland Court Apartments on the city's west side.
Maureen Green, 67, was a steady presence for people in addiction recovery, hosting a weekly support group where her laughter and warmth left a lasting impression.
'We loved her,' said Kim Fehl, who met Green in recovery seven years ago.
Mark Chaffin, 76, had lived most of his life in the Milwaukee area. An Army veteran and cat lover, Chaffin had once been the quarterback at Brookfield Central High School, according to media reports.
Alane Verna Richards, 62, was a mother of four and grandmother to nine. She was known for her laugh and fashion sense, relatives shared on social media and online fundraising sites.
Torrell Coleman, 40, was the family DJ and handpicked the songs for every family cookout. He loved to rap and make beats in the studio. Coleman had two teenage daughters and 1-year-old grandchild.
"His daughters and family were everything to him," said Sandra Coleman, his stepmother.
Shakwanda Harris, 31, was a 4'11" spitfire, one of her sisters said. She had four daughters and a son, never missed a parent-teacher conference and dreamed of owning a house one day. Her family is fundraising to support her children.
"She was so small, but she was so big at the same time," her sister, Nikeya Harris, said. "She was such a happy person."
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The Milwaukee Fire Department has not ruled out that it may have been set intentionally.
The city's fire chief has said lives would have been saved if the building had an automatic sprinkler system — and relatives of the victims who spoke to the Journal Sentinel agreed.
"Every apartment needs sprinklers," said Victor Coleman, Torrell Coleman's father.
"People can go to sleep in their apartments and never know they might not wake up."
As Torrell Coleman's family stood on the steps outside his funeral on May 29, questions tumbled out.
"Were there adequate smoke detectors and fire extinguishers? Were there exit signs?" his cousin, Bobby McQuay Jr., asked. "How could he not make it out?"
McQuay, 52, spent seven years inspecting buildings for Near West Side Partners, a nonprofit. Many of the multi-unit apartments he inspected in the Concordia neighborhood, where the fire occurred, didn't have enough smoke detectors and extinguishers, he said.
Years ago, he inspected Highland Court Apartments, where the fire took place. He recalled meeting the building's landlord and appreciating that she lived on-site.
Geraldine Robinson, the apartment building owner, declined to speak with the Journal Sentinel for this article. She previously told the news organization that her building was inspected quarterly and "we never had a problem."
City officials have made similar comments. Jezamil Arroyo-Vega, commissioner of the Department of Neighborhood Services, told a Common Council committee that the apartment was "very well maintained" and had passed its annual life safety inspection just a month before the fire.
State law doesn't require buildings built before 1974 to have a sprinkler system. Highland Court was built in 1968.
Milwaukee officials have discussed the possibility of requiring older buildings to install sprinkler systems but state law prevents cities from mandating building requirements that are stricter than state law.
Still, McQuay said he wonders what actions the city and landlord could have done to prevent his cousin's death.
"Let's stop this from happening again," he said. "Now is the time to be proactive."
His cousin and another victim, Shakwanda Harris, did not live at the 85-unit apartment but had been visiting residents there.
Shakwanda Harris was visiting the father of her youngest child the night of the fire. She died in the hallway of the building. Her child's father has been hospitalized for severe burns, according to her sister, Nikeya Harris.
Nikeya Harris also questioned what more the landlord could have done, wondering if on-site security may have helped prevent the fire or quickly respond to it.
"The landlord could have done a better job looking after the building," Nikeya Harris said.
That night, her sister's five children, ages 1 to 11, were safe at home with a babysitter.
Now, they are in her care and that of Jessica Harris, Shakwanda's younger sister.
Nights are the hardest, she said. It's when they miss their mom the most.
A few days after the fire, Nikeya Harris went to retrieve her sister's car. On the passenger seat, she found a folded piece of paper from a health clinic.
Her sister was two months pregnant.
Now, the family is left mourning not just the sister and mother they lost, but a child they'll never get to meet.
'I wish she went home that night,' Nikeya Harris said. 'I wish that it never happened.'
Gina Castro is a Public Investigator reporter. She can be reached at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Victims' families urge change after fatal apartment fire in Milwaukee