MORGANTON, N.C. — A woman confessed to holding up a lighter to a sprinkler head in the bathroom of CHS Morganton’s Emergency Department and activating the sprinkler system.
The scene was hectic in the hospital as doctors and nurses threw down hundreds of towels and scrambled to move patients to conference rooms or outside and away from the flooding. Morganton police officers on the scene assessed the situation, discovered the sprinklers were intentionally activated, and found that Katlyn Milligan had done it willingly.
Milligan claimed she became impatient while waiting in the ER for 1.5 hours for her mother’s girlfriend’s back problem. She then overturned a trash can in the bathroom, stood on it, and used a cigarette lighter to activate the sprinkler. Milligan claimed she thought it would be like the movies.
Milligan was arrested and charged with Burning Personal Property, Damage to Personal Property, and Molesting a Fire Extinguishing System.
