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Milwaukee fatal apartment fire; city leaders seek prevention options

The Brief Milwaukee city leaders are debating what to do to prevent fires in apartment buildings. Leaders are looking for options because the city cannot enact legislation that is stricter than state law. This debate comes in the wake of the fire at the Highland Court apartments in which five people died. MILWAUKEE - Firefighters say sprinklers could have saved five lives in a fatal Mother's Day Milwaukee fire. So why are thousands of buildings in the city not required to have them? What we know On Wednesday, May 28, the Milwaukee Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee met to talk about sprinklers. The Highland Court apartments did not have them. Highland Court was built in 1968, making it exempt from the state law that later required sprinklers. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android The Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services estimates 10,000 of the city's apartment-style buildings are not required to have sprinklers. What they're saying "I assure you we would not have had five fatalities probably would have had zero fatalities if we had functioning sprinklers," said Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski. Wisconsin law prevents cities from having ordinances stricter than state law. That means Milwaukee cannot pass its own requirement for older buildings to go back and install sprinklers. On Wednesday, council members floated ideas like increasing safety inspections, looking for grant funding to help with sprinkler installation costs, and requiring landlords to disclose to tenants if the building does not have sprinklers before they sign a lease. "If we can even take small steps in that direction it would it would be a benefit," Lipski said. SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News The case of the Highland Court fire remains under investigation. The Source The information in this post was produced by FOX6 News after sitting in on a committee meeting and using previous FOX6 News coverage.