Two men keep police at bay at South Side home

One of the men began screaming at firefighters for letting a vacant home burn down.

YOUNGSTOWN — Two men, including one with an assault rifle, at an East Delason Avenue home held police at bay late Wednesday, refusing to leave their abode after threatening firefighters.

Firefighters were extinguishing a blaze about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at a vacant house in the 60 block of East Delason on the city’s South Side across the street from where the two men lived.

Firefighters eventually decided to let the vacant house burn down.

One of the men, who appeared to be in his late 20s, then started screaming at the firefighters, according to a battalion chief.

The younger man was shouting to firefighters that they should have put the fire out and threatened them for not doing so, the battalion chief said.

The other man, who appeared to be in his 40s, then came out of the Delason house with an assault rifle.

Firefighters immediately left the area and notified police. The two men then went back to their home.

In addition to the police department, Mahoning County deputy sheriffs and Liberty Township officers attempted to get the two men to leave their home. But as of 11:20 p.m., they had refused to come out.