Man Allegedly Set Fire to Bed Where Estranged Wife, Child Slept

An Oakland County man set fire to a comforter on a bed where his estranged 35-year-old wife and her daughter, 10, slept early Monday morning, authorities said.

The woman told police she awoke to the smell of a comforter burning on her bed about 2 a.m. Monday. As she looked round the residence in the 9400 block of Cherrywood in Springfield Township, she discovered a fire in the closet and in an adjacent locked laundry room, according to an Oakland County Sheriff’s Office report.

The woman and her three children – the 10-year-old, a 15-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son – put out all three fires before authorities arrived. They filled pots and pans with water at the kitchen sink to extinguish the fires.

According to the report, the 17-year-old kicked the laundry room door open so the family could douse a fire inside before it spread.

The woman told authorities she and her husband are going through a divorce, and she thinks he started the fires in retaliation because she’s not speaking to him, according to the report.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Fire Investigation unit determined the fires were caused by arson and arrested the woman’s husband, 36. He is being held at the Oakland County Jail pending the issuance of warrants.

There were no injuries.

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