Ex-firefighter sent to prison for torching Port garage

A former firefighter who torched a garage in the Port Washington apartment complex where he lived in November was sentenced last week to 18 months in prison.

Michael J. Seimits, 36, who pleaded guilty to one felony count of arson during the May 5 hearing, was also sentenced by Ozaukee County Circuit Court Judge Sandy Williams to two years of extended supervision following his incarceration.

A witness helped connect Seimits to the fire, but even before that Port police had been alerted that he moved to the city by Grafton authorities, who said Seimits was a suspect in a series of suspicious fires in the village, according to the criminal complaint.

The Port Washington fire was reported at 7:31 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 29, and an officer who responded saw smoke coming out of the garage and noted that part of an interior wall had been burned through.

Officers noticed the strong smell of gasoline inside the garage and found a gas can with a melted nozzle, leading them to suspect foul play. 

A witness told officers that at about 7 a.m. on the day of the fire she noticed the garage door was open just a few feet. A short time later, she said, she saw a man wearing a black jacket and black pants with a pinkish stripe down the side on the ground just outside the garage. After he got up and walked away, she saw smoke coming out of the garage.

Authorities knew Seimits lived in the complex, and when an officer knocked on his door he was let into the apartment by Seimits’ girlfriend. Seimits, who was wearing black pants with a pink stripe down the side, was drunk.

Seimits had previously been committed to the supervision of the Ozaukee County Department of Health Services and was to maintain absolute sobriety. When officers arrested him for violating that rule, he resisted, according to the complaint. A preliminary breath test showed he had a blood alcohol level of .265, the complaint states.

The day after the fire, Seimits’ girlfriend told police she found it odd that Seimits’ Cedarburg Fire Department jacket, which he kept in a closet and never wore, and black sweatshirt were on the living room floor. An officer who found a lighter in the pocket of the jacket said it smelled like smoke and gasoline and noted that there was melted yellow plastic on the sweatshirt that appeared to match the melted plastic gas can spout found in the garage, according to the complaint. 

At the time of the fire, Seimits was suspended from the Cedarburg Fire Department. 

Cedarburg Fire Chief Jeff Vahsholtz said in December that Seimits, a firefighter and emergency medical technician, had been on suspension since March 26, 2015. He would not comment on the reasons for the suspension, citing the confidentiality of personnel records.

  Shortly after Seimits was arrested, he was released from jail and in trouble with the law again.

According to a criminal complaint charging him with bail jumping, Seimits was arrested in Kewaskum on Dec. 2 after it was discovered he was drinking in violation of the terms of his release.

After again being released, the Department of Health Services contacted the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 3 to report that Seimits had made a suicidal statement and could not be found, the complaint states.

A deputy eventually found him unconscious in a vehicle in the parking lot of the Walmart store in Saukville. Seimits told the deputy, who noticed a strong smell of alcohol and saw two open bottles of whiskey in the vehicle, that he had been in the parking lot for several days, according to the complaint. 

Seimits had a blood alcohol level of .297.

During last week’s hearing, Seimits pleaded guilty to the bail jumping charge. Williams withheld a prison sentence and placed him on probation for three years in addition to the two years of extended supervision she ordered on the arson conviction. 

As conditions of his supervision, Seimits cannot work in the public safety field or as a firefighter and must undergo psychological testing and treatment if it is deemed necessary, participate in any drug and alcohol counseling deemed necessary and maintain absolute sobriety.

A burglary charge filed against Seimits in connection with the fire was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.