Despite efforts by relative, man dies in garage fire on Milwaukee's north side

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A Milwaukee man is dead, the victim of a fire that broke out in a garage near 41st and Thurston on Wednesday morning, January 28th.

One witness tells FOX6 News, she initially thought a car warming up in the garage seemed to be producing excessive smoke. But she thought nobody seemed to have noticed.

"So I had run around to the front and just beat on their door -- to let them know the garage was on fire. And there was a younger gentleman that had came to the back door. And he's like, 'My dad's in there.,'" said Nikki, a witness.

At that point, Nikki called 911, waited and watched as the young man ran into the burning garage about a half-dozen times -- trying his best to extinguish the fire.

"He was going, back and forth into the house with buckets of water -- from the house to the garage. He's like, 'I almost got the fire -- I almost got the fire out,'" said Nikki.



Nikki says she was frightening the flames would come out of the garage's side door and injure the man. So she told him to close the door -- and kept her distance.

Milwaukee police confirmed one man died as a result of the fire. Investigators say the fire was accidental -- caused by the man whose body was recovered. The identity of the victim has not been released at this time.