Lt. Mike Norman of the Cleveland Fire Department tells 3News the fire was intentionally set by a suspect who had barricaded himself inside a house.
In Cleveland, various emergency response teams, including SWAT, firefighters, police, and EMS, were called to an incident involving a house fire on Bader Avenue and Pearl Road.
The event unfolded late Tuesday night when Cleveland police officers arrived at the 460 block of Bader Avenue at around 10 p.m. in pursuit of a male individual with multiple felony warrants.
Upon their arrival, police say officers were given consent to check the residence.
According to the latest information from the Cleveland Division of Police, as officers approached the rear staircase, the suspect threatened to shoot them if they advanced further. The officers then withdrew and set up a perimeter around the area. Despite attempts at negotiation, the suspect refused to surrender and barricaded himself inside the premises, where he made threats of engaging in a shootout and claimed to have explosives.
As the suspect allegedly remained uncooperative, SWAT and Bomb Squad were activated.
“As SWAT entered the resident, the suspect ignited a fire, which quickly engulfed the home,” according to police. “SWAT withdrew and the suspect fled out of the rear of the home.”
After a brief foot chase, the suspect was taken into custody around 3:06 a.m. before being taken to the hospital for evaluation.
Police said five cats and two dogs are believed to have died in the fire.
Lt. Mike Norman of the Cleveland Fire Department says firefighters battled the flames from the outside amid “concerns of possible traps or explosives inside.”
Nobody was hurt, but Lt. Norman lists damage from the fire at an estimated $80,000.
