Local
St. Charles County Apartment Fire Kills 61-Year-Old Man
By Bob Hudson
Sep 6, 2008 - 6:11:13 AM

Firefighters will canvass the neighborhood of an apartment building where a man died in an accidental fire Friday morning.

Fire investigators think that 61-year-old Michael Miloradovich was trying to stamp out a fire in his own bedroom that was started by his cigarette, when he was overcome by smoke, because he had burns on his feet when he was pulled from the Jackson Place Apartments, a 20-unit, two-story building off Pralle Lane near Highway 94 in St. Charles County.

According to Assistant Chief Steve Brown of Central County Fire and Rescue, the fire was reported about 7:30 a.m. Heavy smoke was coming from the second-floor when firefighters arrived.  Emergency workers tried to revive Miloradovich at the scene, but he was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles. Miloradovich, who lived alone, had worked as a janitor at Barnwell Middle School from April 2006 until February. A neighbor, Mary Ann Steffen, said he was quiet and nice. She and her 31-year-old son, Jesse, live in the apartment across the hall. Besides Miloradovich, two other residents of the apartment complex were taken to the hospital where they were treated for smoke inhalation and released. One other apartment besides Miloradovich's was damaged. The American Red Cross assisted residents Friday.

Assistant Chief Brown told the St Louis Post Dispatch that firefighters installed new smoke alarms in the building Friday as residents were allowed back in. Firefighters are concerned about the number of disabled alarms and planned the door-to-door checks to replace old detectors.