Youngstown Vindicator 1.14.2001

YOUNGSTOWN- A fire confined to the kitchen of an apartment caused 25 people to be evacuated for about an hour Saturday evening from a three-story apartment complex and a blaze earlier in the day sent an 83-year-old woman and her 45-year-old son fleeing from their home.

The evening blaze occurred at a complex of 48 apartments at 838 E. Midlothian Blvd. Firefighters had to carry an invalid woman, said Assistant Fire Chief Joe Jasinski.

Reginald Wallace jumped from his second-floor apartment window into grass and shrubs, but was not hurt in the 7:21 fire, Jasinski said.

The fire was caused by an occupants failure to off an electric stove when leaving an apartment, he said, estimating total loss at about $5,000.

Earlier Fire: Jencie Wilkie and her son, Terry, escaped safely from the earlier blaze in a two-story wood house at 122 Ayers St. around 11:31 a.m. Saturday.

That fire, cause by cooking oil igniting, gutted the kitchen and extended up the outside of the house to the roof, causing $20,000 in loss, said battalion Chief Tim McGarry.

An ambulance crew flushed debris from the eye of firefighter Kevin O'Neil, McGarry said.