LAWRENCE TWP.: Firefighters rescued an elderly man trapped on the second floor of his house during a fire late Saturday.
Alfred Booth, of the 4600 block of Erie Avenue Northwest, was treated at Mercy Medical Center in Canton for minor smoke inhalation and scrapes after being rescued.
Booth, 81, was halfway out a second-floor window when authorities arrived at the scene at 10:45 p.m. They coaxed him onto the garage roof and used a ladder to get him away from the house, which was engulfed in smoke and flames, Lawrence Township Fire Chief Mark Stewart said Sunday.
“We’re just happy that the gentleman was able to get out of the fire with very few injuries,” he said.
A passing motorist reported the fire at 10:42 p.m.
The Stark County Arson Task Force determined the cause was a short in an electrical wire on the first floor, Stewart said.
Firefighters from Canal Fulton, Lawrence Township, Jackson Township, Perry Township, Clinton and North Lawrence responded and were hampered by freezing temperatures and snowy conditions.
The fire caused extensive damage and the three-bedroom house is a total loss, Stewart said. Authorities didn’t issue a damage estimate, but county property records listed the building value at $49,400.
