Costs in arson

Costs in arson
YOUNGSTOWN -- City fire officials incurred more than $100,000 in costs while responding to and investigating a November 2001 arson on West Dewey Avenue. Willie F. Hill, 37, of Martin Luther King Boulevard, last month was sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to serve five years in prison on attempted aggravated arson and burglary charges connected with the fire.
Hill worked as a handyman for the 71-year-old woman who was sleeping in the home when he stole a television, set curtains on fire and returned to rescue her, posing as a hero, officials said.
In correspondence to Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, Youngstown Fire Department Lt. Kevin J. Johnson says the Arson Bureau's investigation spent $3,000 in personnel costs and $1,355 in investigation hours. A ladder truck involved in an accident while responding to the fire cost $96,500 to repair.