MILWAUKEE — Ana Lynch was making dinner and watching the news Monday evening when someone started pounding on her door.
The 71-year-old said she opened it and was pulled outside.
“They told me my house is on fire,” Lynch said. “I looked up, and flames.”
The Milwaukee Fire Department was dispatched at 5:03 p.m. to the 900 block of S. 18th Street, Deputy Fire Chief Ron Firnrohr said.
Watch: Milwaukee woman escapes home fire, others displaced
Firefighters found heavy fire and smoke coming from the attic of the 2½-story, four-family residence.
Firefighters said the attic was difficult to access, prompting a second alarm. At one point, firefighters were ordered out of the building and off the roof because of the volume of fire, Firnrohr said.
Across town, Lynch’s daughter, Valencia, said she learned her mother’s house was on fire.
“I called 911 and said I need to do a welfare check on my mom,” she said.
"When I got here, it was just red lights, red lights all down the street,” she said.
The fire caused extensive damage to the attic and roof, leaving the building uninhabitable, according to the fire department.
Lynch said the inside was drenched in water from the hoses.
“It looked like a thunderstorm inside our house,” she said. “The paint was sliding down the walls.”
“All my stuff was gone in one second,” she said.
Lynch said her and two other families who lived in the building are displaced. The American Red Cross is helping tenants with housing arrangements, according to Firnrohr.
No occupants or firefighters were injured, he said.
Despite losing her home, Lynch said she is grateful everyone is safe.
“Everyone’s OK, thank God,” she said.
She said everyone in the home plans to stay together as they figure out what comes next.
“We are a group. We are going to go together, and we’re going to stay together.”
Her family has created a GoFundMe to help get them through the next few months.
The cause remains under investigation by the Milwaukee Fire Department's Fire Investigation Unit and the Milwaukee Police Department.
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