Background: Mobile home park in Dallas, Texas, where a fire killed a man and three dogs (WFAA/YouTube). Inset: Mirsa Lopez (Lew Sterrit Justice Center).
A Texas woman angry that a man in a mobile home wouldn’t let her use his bathroom allegedly set a fire in response that destroyed multiple residences and resulted in the deaths of a visitor in one of the homes and three dogs.
Mirsa Lopez, 38, is accused of sparking the blaze that burned down Gary Fischer’s home on Saturday. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Fischer refused to let her inside his residence at a mobile home park on Lombardy Lane in Northwest Dallas, local NBC affiliate KXAS reported.
“There she was standing,” Fischer told the station, explaining that he had woken up to the sound of Lopez knocking and his dogs barking. “I said, ‘Try later,’ and I closed the door and locked it.”
Fischer said that minutes later, he heard a loud noise and saw flames outside his home. Smoke filled the room, he said, and he “could hardly breathe.”
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Dallas Fire-Rescue received a 911 call at around 6:30 a.m., CBS News reported. The blaze was reportedly so strong that additional units were called in, and it took some two hours to control the situation.
Witnesses reportedly told police that they had seen Lopez in a chair outside the burning mobile home, according to Dallas Fox affiliate KDFW. Lopez herself reportedly told neighbors that she had been in a relationship with Fischer. She also allegedly admitted to police that she intentionally started the fire by taking a lighter to a plastic bag and putting the bag between a car and Fischer’s home, knowing he was inside at the time, KDFW reported.
Fischer told Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA that Lopez had been coming around his home and had been told she wasn’t welcome there anymore.
“We have had trouble with her before,” he told the station.
A total of four homes were destroyed, as well as multiple cars. The man who died was a visitor sleeping on the couch of one of the homes at the time. First responders found the man unconscious inside one of the homes; he was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His identity has not been publicly released, a KXAS report said.
Three dogs — two of which belonged to Fischer and one belonging to a neighbor — also perished as a result of the blaze.
An entire family of eight saw their home and all their possessions — everything except the clothes they were wearing — go up in flames, KXAS reported.
Lopez is currently in custody and facing arson charges, jail records show. The KXAS report noted that additional charges may be filed.
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