LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A lethal fireplace on the north facet of Lansing early Monday morning occurred in a house that town had deemed unsafe since March 2025.
The house, within the 1500 block of North Excessive Avenue, had been red-tagged since March 2025, property data and metropolis officers confirmed.
“The property was red tagged in March 2025 and went into NEAT status after 90 days,” metropolis spokesman Scott Bean wrote in an electronic mail to six Information. “Code saw no evidence from the outside that the home was occupied.”
A purple tag displaying within the entrance window of a house on N. Excessive St. the place a 62-year-old lady died throughout an early Monday morning fireplace. (WLNS) 
A house the place a 62-year-old lady perished in an early morning fireplace Monday (WLNS)
A house the place a 62-year-old lady perished in an early morning fireplace Monday (WLNS)
A house the place a 62-year-old lady perished in an early morning fireplace Monday (WLNS)
A house the place a 62-year-old lady perished in an early morning fireplace Monday (WLNS)
A 62-year-old lady perished within the fireplace. A 31-year-old lady was taken to College of Michigan Well being–Sparrow with smoke inhalation. The reason for the fireplace has been attributed by Lansing Hearth Division officers to “careless smoking.”
“The fire was caused by careless smoking, not the condition of the home,” Bean wrote. “The home was deemed to be unsafe for human habitation for sanitary reasons.”
Metropolis regulation prohibits anybody from dwelling in a red-tagged property. A property is red-tagged when officers decide it’s unsafe for human habitation.
“NEAT standing” properties are required to have officers to bodily go to and examine the property to guarantee it’s safe and that nobody resides there.
Allison Horn, Vice President of Government Communication and Legislative Affairs at MSUFCU, mentioned when a property is offered at a Sheriff Sale, as this one was in Could 2025, a property proprietor has six months to both vacate the property or repay the mortgage quantities. That’s referred to as the redemption interval. The house was nonetheless within the redemption interval.
Lansing Metropolis Council Member Ryan Kost represents the First Ward, the place the house was situated. He offered the next assertion to six Information:
“I’m heartbroken to study in regards to the deadly fireplace on North Excessive Avenue. My ideas are with the family members of the girl who misplaced her life and with the primary responders who confronted unimaginable hazard that evening.
This tragedy is a painful reminder of the dangers posed by red-tagged houses and properties which have been deemed unsafe for habitation however too usually stay occupied because of housing insecurity and lack of enforcement. Nobody ought to need to stay in situations that threaten their security or their life. We should deal with this as a name to motion. The Metropolis wants to prioritize stronger follow-up on red-tagged properties, guarantee coordination between code enforcement and emergency providers, and work to offer safer housing options for residents who really feel they haven’t any different choices. Each purple tag represents not only a constructing code violation, however a warning that lives are in danger.
We owe it to our group and to the reminiscence of these misplaced to verify this by no means occurs once more.”
