'We're asking for the building to be survivable': Fire chief, landlords weigh in on cost of fire sprinklers after latest fire death

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- On Tuesday, July 15, the 4-year-old girl who died in a Milwaukee apartment fire Monday was identified.

Xiomara Jermino died after a fire broke out in her family's apartment.

That girl's mother remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said the death and injury could have been prevented if fire sprinklers were installed, but the building was not required to have them.

A property owner said he and others want to retrofit buildings with sprinklers, but it's costly.

Still, Lipski said they would have saved Xiomara's life.

At a news conference Tuesday, Lipski said, "If there were functioning sprinklers in this building, we aren't dealing with a tragic fatality."

But fire sprinklers are not required in buildings constructed before 1974.

Lipski and other fire professionals have been banging the drum for years, but in Wisconsin there is no state fire marshal to set code. Only the Legislature can effect changes.

Lipski said, "We're prohibited from having a more restrictive code requirement than is allowed by state law."

A city of Milwaukee spokesperson said their team is not aware of vocal supporters in the statehouse, and city building inspectors have not received any legislative inquiries from lawmakers.

Lipski vowed to keep pushing for mandated sprinklers. But he also acknowledged they have to find a funding mechanism because it's not free.

Milwaukee rental property owner Sam Stair told us housing providers would love to upgrade their buildings.

But, he said, "If I put a sprinkler system in my building, everybody will move out to the next-door neighbor."

Stair said it would cost around $20,000 per unit to retrofit buildings. "You have to open all these walls and go through an existing building. Anything with water, only plumbers can touch. They have to be certified so they're very expensive."

To cover that cost, he said rents would be increased by $330 a month over five years.

Online estimates peg the retrofitting cost at between $2 and $7 per square foot.

Stair said, "It's not that we're trying to be jerks or greedy monsters."

To lower costs, Stair said what's needed is "massive deregulation of building codes and who could install sprinkler systems as well as massive funding."

But on Tuesday, Lipski compared the cost of sprinklers with what's been lost.

"At a certain point, that's just going to have to be too bad. I can tell you that, to the people who are left behind, they would spare no expense."

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos's communications team did not respond to a request for an interview.

Back in May, after five people died in a fire at the Highland Court apartments, Vos cautioned that requiring fire sprinklers could be "overreacting."

Vos owns rental properties himself.

He said at the time, "We want to ensure people are safe, but we have to be careful about not overreacting to unfortunate incidents like this."

Lipski said he and some city department heads are compiling a list of apartment buildings that do not have fire sprinklers. If they catch fire, Lipski will send extra resources right away.

In the meantime, he's still pushing for something he says is simple. "We're asking for the building to be survivable. For people to be able to live."

A spokesperson for the city's Department of Neighborhood Services said the building that caught fire passed its fire inspection in January and wasn't due for another one until 2026.

So far there has been no update on the injured woman, believed to be the girl's mother.