AUSTINTOWN Apartment resident hospitalized after fire

Arson is suspected in a blaze at a vacant house on Mildred Street.
AUSTINTOWN -- Firefighters were summoned to an apartment fire shortly after 5 a.m. today, a half-hour after returning from a blaze in an unoccupied house.
Marion Busick, 43, the occupant of an apartment at 131 N. Kimberly Ave., was in satisfactory condition at St. Elizabeth Health Center, where she was being treated for smoke inhalation.
"She told me she was in her bedroom and the electric heater was flaming up all around her bed," said Capt. Chris Ludt. "She said she was banging on doors, crying for help."
The fire gutted the bedroom of the single-story apartment owned by C.W.B. Management, causing $20,000 in damage, according to reports. Firefighters extinguished the fire and were back at the station at 7:15 a.m.
"These guys saved a cat, a bird and a lizard," said Fire Chief Andrew Frost. "She saved the dog."
Arson suspected: The earlier fire, at 1249 Mildred St., seems to have originated from several places on the first floor of the wood-and-brick home, Ludt said.
It is being investigated as a possible arson.
Firefighters arrived at that blaze around 1 a.m. today, after a call from a neighbor on Annetta Avenue, who said the home has been empty since January. Firefighters shuttled water from Meridian Road because there are no hydrants in the immediate area.
The fire caused an estimated $10,000 damage to the home, owned by Mike Richardson of Austintown.