Fire in vacant house ruled arson

YOUNGSTOWN -- A fire that caused $15,000 damage to a house on Oak Lane has been ruled an arson, a city fire dispatcher said.
Dispatcher Frank Baran said no one was injured in the 7 p.m. Wednesday one-alarm fire at 1546 Oak Lane. He said Battalion Chief Robert Hian had determined it was arson and referred the matter to the arson unit.
Baran said the house, though vacant, contained furniture and officials believe it was occupied by squatters. No one was in the house at the time of the fire, Baran said.
Lt. Alvin Ware, arson bureau commander, said there have been eight arsons in the past three to four months on the East Side -- all vacant, uninsured houses built during World War II. An investigation has provided no clear-cut suspects so far, he said.
The fires, on Oak Lane and Atkinson and Forestview avenues, are typically set late at night or early in the morning, Ware said. Sometimes drug dealers who use vacant houses burn them to destroy evidence, he said.