Appleton arson suspect tells police smoking, cleaning with gasoline don't mix

Prosecutor files charges in fire that displaces 11

John Lee
Post-Crescent staff writer

Ernest D. Krajniak, 47, of

Appleton, has been charged

with arson for starting a fire in

 his apartment building.

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CHILTON — A 47-year-old Appleton man charged with arson for starting a fire in his apartment that forced 11 neighbors from their homes told police he was just cleaning his apartment.

With gasoline. While smoking.

Ernest D. Krajniak said the fire started when he tossed his lit cigarette into a pile of gas-soaked clothes and cushions at the building on Appleton's southeast side.

Instead of pulling the building's fire alarm, he yelled "fire" a couple times before walking to the Menasha Police Department to ask for an ambulance to take him to be treated for burns to his face, arms and back.

"Krajniak stated that he wasn't thinking," according to a criminal complaint filed Monday by Calumet County Dist. Atty. Ken Kratz.

He told police he knew gas is flammable. "I should have never used that," he said.

Calumet County Judge Donald Poppy set a cash bond for $2,500 when Krajniak appeared in court Monday.

Krajniak was treated at a hospital for burns he received in the fire for a day after the blaze, which was reported at 5:45 p.m. Friday.

Witnesses told police Krajniak bought gas twice that day at a nearby station. He told police he planned to clean his apartment with the gas, and pulled everything out of his closet and piled it in the bedroom. The pile was near about five gallons of gas he had poured into plastic ice cream buckets.

Krajniak told police it was a mistake to throw the cigarette and he was sorry for what had happened.

Firefighters said the blaze caused extensive damage to the first-floor apartment where it began and heavy smoke damage throughout the building.

Tenants from 11 other apartments in the building were forced from their homes, and officials expect they won't be able to return home until later this week.

A preliminary hearing to determine if probable cause exists to proceed with the charges is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday.