Lang
12/10/24
A North Liberty woman faces criminal charges after police say the young children she left home alone started a fire.
North Liberty firefighters responded to a call on Rachel Street just before 4:30 on the morning of November 11th. The entire apartment complex was evacuated. The blaze was extinguished by fire suppression systems.
Firefighters searched the smoke-filled apartment of origin to find a three-year-old and a five-year-old hiding in their bedrooms. They were taken to University of Iowa Health Care once paramedics had cleared them of injuries.
An investigation determined one of the children had turned on the fireplace in the living room, igniting a nearby clothes basket.
The children’s mother, 29-year-old Brittany Airhart, reportedly told police she thought the babysitter had picked her children up after she left the apartment, but she never confirmed that with the babysitter.
A warrant was issued for Airhart’s arrest last Thursday, and she now faces a charge of Neglect or Abandonment of a Dependent Person. If convicted, Airhart faces a maximum of ten years in prison.