Bellingham woman arrested for setting fire to her own apartment, threatening to kill family
A Bellingham woman is in jail after allegedly threatening to kill her child and her child’s father with a knife before setting fire to her apartment, according to Bellingham Police Lt. Claudia Murphy.
Lisa Sirrs, 36, was arrested Friday, Dec. 9, for first-degree arson, reckless endangerment and felony harassment.
The Bellingham Fire Department responded to the apartment fire around 5:30 p.m. in the 5800 block of Pacific Rim Way. After arriving, fire personnel requested police assistance for a suspected arson investigation, Murphy wrote in an email to The Bellingham Herald.
Sirrs was allegedly behaving erratically Friday evening when one of her children and their father brought food to her apartment, according to Murphy.
When the child and the child’s father were in the apartment, Sirrs went upstairs and reappeared with a large kitchen knife, threatening to kill them, Murphy told The Herald.
The child and their father ran from the apartment. Shortly after they left, Sirrs called the child’s father to tell him the apartment was on fire, according to Murphy.
By the time he returned, fire personnel were at the apartment. An investigation determined the fire was started in the child’s bedroom and Sirrs allegedly said a voice told her to start the fire, Murphy said.
Dozens of people live in the apartment complex where the fire was started and three apartments, occupied by four people, are in the same building as Sirrs’ apartment, according to Murphy.
Sirrs is being held at the Whatcom County Jail on $100,000 bail or $10,000 cash.
