Howland woman, 19, faces charge of aggravated arson

Staff report

WARREN

A 19-year-old Howland Township woman has been indicted on an aggravated-arson charge in a house fire at 2711 Orchard Ave. on Aug. 28, 2010.

Kaitlyn A. Mullins of 2671 Orchard Ave. will be arraigned at 11 a.m. Wednesday before Judge W. Wyatt McKay. The charge carries a possible penalty of eight years in prison.

Howland Fire Chief George Brown said investigators with the Howland Fire Department and the State Fire Marshal’s Office determined the 3:20 a.m. fire was arson, but he was unable to say why it was ruled that way.

Shane Cartmill, spokesman for the state fire marshal, said witnesses were interviewed, and physical evidence was collected at the scene and analyzed by the state fire marshal’s office that led to the ruling.

Mullins was burned in the fire and treated at Trumbull Memorial Hospital and then at Akron Children’s Hospital Burn Unit, Brown said.

Mullins was taken by a friend from the fire to the hospital before firefighters arrived, Cartmill said.

Howland firefighters learned about Mullins after the hospital called them to say that a woman was brought there with burns from a fire, Brown said. Investigators went to see her, but she was unconscious, Brown added.

The house was a total loss with the value of the home and contents placed at $53,000. Two adults and two children who lived at the residence were not home at the time of the fire.