Milton Township road workers and police relocate after fire

LAKE MILTON -- Police are on patrol as usual despite a fire that has displaced the Milton Township police and road department offices from the building they shared at 15992 Milton Ave., according to police Capt. Harold Johnson.
A state fire marshal who visited the scene concluded that the fire likely was of electrical origin in a faulty paper shredder in the police booking room, Johnson said.
The fire, which erupted at 12:45 p.m. Monday, did about $80,000 damage to the building's contents, destroying computers, monitors, surveillance cameras, portable police radios and a Breathalyzer machine, he said.
The fire also destroyed the booking room and caused smoke damage throughout the building, he added. No damage estimate on the building was available Tuesday.
Police are temporarily working from a Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency mobile command post parked outside the building.
As was the case before the fire, they are being dispatched by the Mahoning County 911 Center in Youngstown.
The road department is working from the adjacent township garage and using telephones in the EMA mobile command center.
An insurance adjuster was to visit the scene today to assess damage and determine whether the burned building is salvageable.