EAST LANSING -- Authorities said today they may seek charges against a Michigan State University student they suspect turned off a fire alarm system in a rental house shortly before flames destroyed it Friday.
The fire at 318 Elm Place. displaced 11r esidents, including the student under suspicion, and resulted in about $500,000 damge to the home and its contents.
East Lansing Fire Marshal Bob Pratt said when the fire began Friday morning, the home's smoke and fire alarm system went off , but the student turned it off. The student thought the alarm had mistakenly gone off and that's why he or she turned off the alarm, Pratt said.
He said the fire department is still reviewing whether to seek to charge the student with disabling a fire alarm system, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Pratt said the fire remains under investigation. He said investigators have ruled out a suspicious cause for the fire and believe it was accidental.
For more on this story, read Sunday's Lansing State Journal. http://bit.ly/cwvOp6
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