Waterbury Police have arrested a woman for arson after they said she set fire to her former home on Thursday after she was evicted.
According to police, 35-year-old Nicole Abrom lived on the first floor of 6 Grove Court up until she was evicted last week.
Firefighters were called to the multi-family home shortly around 7 a.m. after a police officer who was driving by saw flames coming out of the building. The officer alerted the rest of the fire department and helped get people out. Four adults who were home when the fire started were able to escape safely.
Tenants said that Abrom had lived in the building, but had yelled she was going to burn it down after she was evicted earlier in the week. According to a witness, Abrom was very upset about being kicked out of her apartment and the Department of Children and Families had also taken her children away from her.
Abrom was found in Middletown on Thursday. Investigators said she told them she had smoked crack cocaine that morning in the apartment then said she may have accidentally dropped a lit cigarette.
A police K9 found suspected accelerants on the home's first floor and on Abrom's sneaker.
Court records show Abrom was also evicted from an apartment on Buckingham Street in 2016 after she failed to pay rent. Abrom claimed the landlord would not accept her payments and said he did not install a new oven in her home.
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Abrom is facing charges including arson and reckless endangerment. She was held on $150,000 bond and is due in Waterbury Superior Court in October.
The American Red Cross was called in to help assist displaced residents.
