Traffic snarled downtown after fire at high-rise

YOUNGSTOWN

Fire investigators say construction crews renovating the brickwork at a downtown building touched off a small fire Thursday.

Firefighters were called to the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority high rise Amedia Plaza at West Boardman and Hazel streets about 12:10 p.m. for a report of smoke in the building. When they arrived, they found smoke in a sixth-floor apartment.

Fire Investigator Capt. Alvin Ware said the construction workers were using sanders and grinders on the bricks around the building, tools that can create a spark. He said they caught a spark on the wood around the window of one of the apartments, causing a small fire that spread from the outside through the wall to the apartment.

No one was injured, but three of the department’s ladder trucks were among the vehicles on the scene, snarling traffic around city hall in the early afternoon hours.

Read the complete story in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.