Milwaukee police: Fire that killed 2 kids not considered suspicious
A fire that tore through a Milwaukee apartment, killing two children on the city's northwest side, is not considered suspicious, police said Monday.
The children were identified as 2-year-old Stephanie Robinson, and her brother, 4-year-old Romeo C. Robinson, police said.
The children's father, Steve Robinson, was injured in the blaze and remained hospitalized Monday, according to family and the Milwaukee Fire Department.
Firefighters were called to a unit at the Woodlands apartments at 9031 N. Swan Road about 5:15 a.m. Sunday. Crews encountered heavy smoke and a "large volume of fire" when they arrived, fire department officials said.
Deputy Chief Aaron Lipski said despite the fire being in a very advanced stage, firefighters decided to enter the dwelling anyway, and and several were briefly trapped after stairwells in the building burned out.
"They put their lives at risk to see if they could save those children," Lipski said at a news conference outside the burned-out home Monday afternoon. "Those firefighters came out that door smoldering."
RELATED:Boy and girl killed in fire early Sunday are 2 of 5 children to die in Milwaukee the past 48 hours
The complex was evacuated and firefighters had the blaze under control by 6:27 a.m. The fire destroyed one apartment and damaged another, and its cause was still under investigation Monday.
Although it still had not been officially determined whether the apartment where the fire began had working smoke detectors, Milwaukee Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing stressed the importance of the devices. The building did not have a sprinkler system, he said.
The children's maternal grandmother, Lourdes DeLeon, said their home did have smoke detectors, while echoing the importance of the devices in preventing such tragedies
She also speculated that a container of grease or oil kept on a stove may have caused the fire to accelerate and warned other families how easily fires can start.
DeLeon said her daughter, Shelena Payne, is expecting a newborn son and was in the hospital for complications the morning of the fire.
The couple had just moved into the home about a month ago and were excited about the new addition to their family.
"They had just gotten a new crib and new clothes for the baby," she said after the news conference. "Now, everything's gone."
She described the joy her grandchildren brought her every day, and the anguish now felt by their family over their deaths.
"Romeo was always trying to protect his little sister...She always acted like she was older than him," she said.
After the news conference firefighters went door-to-door in the neighborhood offering fire safety education materials, checking for working smoke alarms and installing new alarms if needed. The effort is part of the department's Project FOCUS, which stands for Firefighters Out Creating Urban Safety.
Anyone in the city in need of a smoke detector can call the Milwaukee Fire Department's smoke alarm hotline at (414) 286-8980.