The man suspected of starting the deadly fire at a Door County bar says he was just trying to smoke a cigarette.
Fifty seven-year-old Anthony Gonzalez made his first appearance in court on Friday. Police arrested him the day before. Investigators say Gonzalez told them he spilled lighter fluid on his bed while trying to light a cigarette. That fire spread and gutted the historic Butch’s Bar. Two people who lived in the apartments above the bar died in the fire. Prosecutors are charging Gonzalez with two counts of reckless homicide and five counts of endangering safety. He’s being held on a quarter-million dollars cash bail.