MADISON, Wis. — Police are investigating whether there’s a connection between two dumpster fires and a house fire that all occurred in downtown Madison within the same hour on Wednesday morning.
The house fire on West Washington Avenue left six UW-Madison students without a home just weeks after they moved in to start their junior year.
One of the residents, Nina Davidovic, was awakened around 5 a.m. by a neighbor knocking on their door. When she walked out of her bedroom, she saw flames down the hall.
“I started screaming for everyone to get out — that there was a fire — knocking on everyone’s doors,” Davidovic said.
Watch: Madison arson detectives investigating fire that displaced six students
All six housemates escaped safely, but they say they lost almost all their belongings inside.
“I grabbed nothing — not my glasses, not my phone — and I ran out the front door and didn’t really have any time to process that our house was going up in flames,” said Ella Paul.
“If it wasn’t damaged by the fire itself, it was damaged by the smoke,” Davidovic said. “Anything wooden, we had to throw out, which — I just bought everything new for my room, so that’s all gone.”
The students have started a GoFundMe page to help with the cost of replacing their belongings and the higher cost of rent at the new apartment they’ve moved into for the time being.
City of Madison police said the two dumpster fires that occurred around the same time were smaller and did not damage any property.
They are looking for a person of interest in connection to those fires and encouraging anyone who may have information to call Madison Area Crime Stoppers at 608-266-6014 or go online to p3tips.com.
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