Airbnb cabin caught fire, killing 3 kids and 3 adults, Wisconsin lawsuit says
.png "Six family members died in a fire at an Airbnb in Wisconsin.")
A Minnesota man is suing after a fire at a Wisconsin Airbnb claimed the lives of six of his family members, including his wife and daughter, a lawsuit says.
Stephen Kuehl initially filed the lawsuit in Juneau County Circuit Court, but the case was moved to federal court Oct. 16, records show.
The lawsuit, filed against Airbnb and several individuals, stems from the fatal cabin fire June 30, 2024.
McClatchy News reached out to Airbnb for comment Oct. 21 but did not immediately hear back.
On June 28, 2024, Stephen Kuehl, his wife Charis Kuehl and their three children went to stay at the cabin rental with other members of their extended family, according to court records.
Charis Kuehl booked the Airbnb and told the host there would be at least 10 adults and six kids who would stay at the rental over the Fourth of July holiday, a civil complaint said. Although, WLUK reported there were 20 people in the home.
Around 2:30 a.m. June 30, less than 36 hours after checking into the cabin, Stephen Kuehl woke up to his wife screaming “fire,” court records said.
Stephen Kuehl saw flames through the second-floor window of the bedroom he, his wife and his kids were in. He grabbed two of the kids, and Charis Kuehl grabbed their youngest daughter, Stella, according to the court document.
Stephen Kuehl went downstairs with his two children as Charis Kuehl tried to warn others upstairs about the fire, but the fire spread, preventing her and Stella from making it downstairs.
Charis and Stella Kuehl, along with Charis’ father, Steve Witte; her sister, Lydia Witte; and two of her nieces, Lena and Merci Henselin, died in the fire, according to a GoFundMe page.
Stephen Kuehl told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he never heard smoke alarms go off.
“It’s somewhat a wonder that any of us survived, to be totally honest,” he told the news outlet. “With another minute, we’d all be in there trapped.”
Karl Henselin, the father of Lena and Merci, recounted to WLUK how he made it out of the house from the second floor. He said he broke an upstairs window, but it caused a backdraft effect.
“I laid down on the ground and I thought, ‘I’m going to die here.’ I looked at the window and realized it was too small. I was never going to get out of that window. The heat was so bad I couldn’t stand up to get -- the window’s two and a half feet off the ground, maybe. I couldn’t get up that high to get to the window. I couldn’t go down the stairs -- my child had just died, as far as I know. I was ready to go home to the Lord and give up,” he told the news outlet.
Henselin saw a door slam shut and said he heard a voice in his head say, “if you go through that door, I’ve saved cold air and you can breathe in there,” he told the news outlet. Then, he found a window to escape as his wife found a way out of the house in another room, WLUK reported. Two other children of his also survived.
The lawsuit said there were no smoke alarms in the bedrooms Charis Kuehl and Steven Witte were sleeping in, nor was there one in the basement bedroom where Lydia Witte slept.
“Airbnb has got to care about the safety of people, because I don’t want anyone to go through what I’ve gone through — when it can be easily prevented, or at least somewhat mitigated, by basic things like fire inspections and occupancy limits that are verified by fire marshals, and smoke alarms,” Stephen Kuehl told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The fire department battled the fire for around three hours and was at the scene for roughly 12 hours, according to a news release from the Juneau County Sheriff’s Office.
There were 14 survivors, WLUK reported.
The lawsuit is asking for an undetermined amount in damages.
This story was originally published October 21, 2025 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Airbnb cabin caught fire, killing 3 kids and 3 adults, Wisconsin lawsuit says."
