‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ blares as landlord sets duplex on fire, MN cops say
A landlord has been sentenced on a charge of arson after he was accused of setting his duplex on fire while he and a tenant were inside, Minnesota officials say.
One of the first things first responders noticed when they responded to the scene in Duluth on May 18, 2023, was music — the song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” was “blaring” from an upstairs apartment being swallowed by flames, according to a probable cause statement.
Travis Lee Carlson was responsible for the fire, officials said, and sentenced earlier in April, the Duluth News Tribune reported. His attorney did not respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment April 9.
Court records show he was convicted March 31.
The night of the fire, a neighbor who called police at 3:30 a.m. said they saw Carlson destroying his own property in a chaotic, seemingly frantic manner, according to court records.
Carlson was wearing a helmet and smashing the windows of the apartment, and going in and out of the house to get gas cans from his truck, the document said. At one point, the neighbor “saw a flash like a fireball come from the upstairs apartment.”
A tenant living downstairs woke up from the sound of “smashing glass and breaking things,” investigators said. Then, after about 20 minutes, Carlson knocked on his door and said “the house is on fire.”
An investigation revealed Carlson had drilled a hole in a gas tank and emptied gas cans littered the ground around his truck. He had also torn wires loose from an electrical panel in the basement, and there was evidence all over the walls, floor and furniture of the apartment indicating that an accelerant had been poured, the document said.
The following day, investigators say Carlson was found with “fresh burn injuries” to his arms and legs.
Officials have not said what may have motivated Carlson.
Carlson was sentenced to four years in prison, but a judge decided to stay the sentence in favor of three years supervised probation, Northern News Now reported.
This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 4:38 PM with the headline "‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ blares as landlord sets duplex on fire, MN cops say."