Dramatic Rescue Saves Man From Burning Lawrence Township, Ohio Home

LAWRENCE TWP. Alfred Booth owes his dramatic rescue from his burning home to a passing motorist who slowed down for a closer look.

Rhonda Magyar was driving by just before 10:45 p.m.

Saturday when she spotted what appeared to be glowing Christmas lights through a patch of trees. Upon closer inspection, Magyar realized Booth's two-story farmhouse was on fire.

"It's down a gully, so it's not real easy to spot," said Magyar, who lives roughly a mile away. "I was amazed by how many people who drove by and didn't stop. It was pretty bad, pretty quick. The smoke was billowing."

Magyar quickly dialed 911.

The first emergency responder on the scene, a Lawrence Township police officer, noticed Booth, 81, was trapped on the second floor of the burning home at 4601 Erie Ave. NW in a bedroom above an attached garage. The house was engulfed in flames when fire crews arrived a short time later, according to Lawrence Township Fire Chief Mark Stewart. Firefighters immediately initiated a rescue operation.

"Our truck arrived quickly and (Booth) was halfway out the window. The whole front of the house was on fire. We were able to talk him onto the roof. We put a ladder on the attached garage and helped him down," Stewart said. "He self-extricated onto a roof.

He didn't have a choice.

He couldn't wait."

Stewart said the home was not equipped with smoke detectors.

"It had been burning for a while. He had been asleep upstairs prior to the fire and he was awakened by his dog barking," he said. "He had no way of calling us. If (Magyar) wouldn't have called us, he would have been in real trouble."

Stewart reminded residents that smoke detectors should be installed on each floor of a home. Residents who need detectors can contact the Fire Department at 330-854-6755 to get a free one.

"If they don't have smoke detectors in their home, we want to make sure they have one," Stewart said.

Booth was taken to Mercy Medical Center to be treated for smoke inhalation and minor abrasions, Stewart said.

Booth's dog died in the fire.

Members of the Stark County Fire Investigative Unit, who remained on the scene through 5:30 a.m. Sunday, believe the blaze was caused by overheated electrical wiring.

"We found an overheated wire where the fire started in the front, right corner the living room of the house," Stewart said. "It was a wire that went to the blower motor for his wood burning stove."

The home will be listed as a total loss, Stewart said. Emergency crews, which included personnel from the North Lawrence, Clinton, Jackson and Perry township fire departments, managed to save a vehicle from the garage. Firefighters had to contend with temperatures in the lower 20s.

"We had ice and we had a hydrant break on us so we had to go find another source, but we never lost water to the fire," Stewart said.