Hair iron, cigarette listed as fire sources

A woman used a Life Alert button to summon help at a Jacobs Road fire.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — A hot hair iron left on a bed was blamed as the cause of a fire that did extensive damage to a home at 846 Miami Avenue.

Firefighters were called to the home of Nicole Moon shortly after 11 a.m. Friday after fire broke out in a second-floor bedroom.

No one was at home at the time, and a neighbor who spotted smoke coming from the house called the fire department.

Moon told authorities that her daughter apparently left a hair iron on the bed after using it and all five members of the family left the house around 7 a.m.

Firefighters had to break into the house through the front door and were able to confine the fire to the bedroom, but there was water and smoke damage throughout the two-story structure. There were no working smoke detectors in the building, firefighters said.

The house is owned by Herman McDavid of Coronado Avenue. Firefighters said he told them he has no insurance on the property. Damage was estimated at $18,000.

Firefighters said Flossie McDonald of Jacobs Road came home from her birthday party shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday to find smoke inside the two-story structure.

She told authorities she used her Life Alert button to summon help.

Firefighters said they found a mattress burned and smoldering in a first-floor bedroom and other furniture in the room burned as well. A discarded cigarette was listed as the cause of the blaze.

Damage was estimated at $9,000. There were no spoke detectors in the home, firefighters said.