Women escape Springfield Township home fire

Staff report

NEW Springfield

A fire at a home forced a Springfield Township woman to jump from a second-story window and left the women who live there temporarily homeless.

Fire Chief Matt Gebhardt said crews responded to a call for a fire at a house on Metz Road near state Route 630 about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and contained it within 30 minutes. He said two women, a mother and daughter, were in the home at the time. One escaped through a first-floor door.

Gebhardt said firefighters living near the home responded to the call and caught the other woman in their arms when she jumped from a second-floor window.

Both women were taken to the St. Elizabeth Health Center, Boardman, treated for smoke inhalation and have since been released, the chief said.

“We are still leaving the cause undetermined, but it was accidental. It wasn’t arson,” Gebhardt said, adding the blaze appears to have originated in the kitchen.

The women did not have homeowners’ insurance and are looking for another place to live. Damage is estimated to be thousands of dollars, Gebhardt added.