MADISON — The Madison Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying a person of interest for a dumpster fire possibly related to two additional fires — one of which displaced six University of Wisconsin-Madison students.
According to updates from Madison Fire Department, the fires were all located downtown and started within one hour of each other in the early morning Wednesday.
The first one started around 4:20 a.m. near Langdon St. and Henry St. when a dumpster caught fire. Then a second dumpster fire was reported shortly after 4:45 a.m. near Johnson St. and State St.
Detectives said someone intentionally set the second dumpster on fire and released photos of a person of interest.
At around 5:00 a.m. a house near Washington Ave. and Bassett St. caught fire. Madison police received reports of people hearing an explosion before seeing flames.
Madison Fire Department arrived to find heavy fire on the back of the building, flames on the siding and flames heading into the attic. MFD extinguished the fire but had to cut the roof open to let smoke and gases escape from the home.
No one was injured, but all six residents, who are students at UW-Madison were displaced. They’ve received emergency help from the American Red Cross and have set up a GoFundMe asking for additional support.
The home sustained an estimated $500,000 in damage. The two dumpster fires were smaller and did not damage any property.
Although it’s unclear if all three fires are related, Madison police said an arson detective did respond to the scene of the house fire in addition to the dumpster fires.
Anyone with information on the fires or identify of the pictured individual is asked to contact Madison Area Crime Stoppers at 608-266-6014 or online at p3tips.com.
