Local News
UPDATE: Family driven from home, firefighter hurt
Firefighters kept busy by Sunday morning fires
SHARON — A family was left homeless and a firefighter was injured Sunday morning by a house fire in Sharon.
The exact cause of the fire at 127 Second Ave. wasn’t clear, but firefighters said it started near a wood stove in the living room of the two-story house and spread to two upstairs bedrooms and the attic.
The family living at the home, husband and wife Joshua and Tiffany Stearns and their four children, aged 3 to 13 years old, will have to find a new place to live, Brian Scarmack, a captain with the Sharon Fire Department, said.
“The house isn’t livable,” he said.
Firefighters were called to the scene at 8:34 a.m. and spent about 2è hours fighting the blaze, a Mercer County 911 dispatcher said.
Sharon Firefighter Shawn Donato was injured after a piece of debris fell on his head, and he was taken to the hospital of the Sharon Regional Health System with moderate injuries, firefighters said.
The Red Cross is assisting the family and the home was insured, Scarmack said.
Firefighters in Sharon couldn’t say for sure what, if any role, the wood burning stove played in the fire.
That wasn’t the case in Greenville, where a mattress was left too close to a space heater in a bedroom at 44 North High St. and caught fire about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, firefighters said.
A Mercer County 911 dispatcher said they were called initially because someone saw smoke coming out of the house and when firefighters arrived they found the inside of the house was on fire.
The fire was contained to the bedroom, destroying only a mattress and a table, according to a news release from the Greenville Fire Department.
The family living there — Larry Elder, Kathrn Hoffman and their 1-year-old son — will be able to move back into the house as soon as the damage is repaired and the utilities are turned back on, according to the release.
The house did not have a working smoke detector, firefighters said.
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Stacey wants to continue fight over razed home
Raymond Stacey has requests pending in three courts as he presses his long-running attempt to prosecute the city of Hermitage and those he believes are responsible for illegally demolishing his parents’ house.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia, on April 29 quashed an appeal because Stacey did not file his argument brief and appendix of supporting documents.
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Burglars strike while residents sleep
Several Shenango Valley residents’ homes were broken into overnight Tuesday and Wednesday while they slept.
Two burglaries in Sharon involved people entering open windows.
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Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
Hermitage commissioners introduced an ordinance Wednesday to increase sanitary user fees.
Residents tapped into the Hermitage Municipal Authority lines now pay $95 a quarter. That rate will bump up to $105 a quarter on Jan. 1, under the proposed rate hike.
Two more hikes on Jan. 1, 2012, and Jan. 1, 2013, will result in the rates increasing 50 percent from the current fee. -
Water is on at Forrest Brooke
Water service has been restored at Forrest Brooke Manufactured Home Community after well problems left the 165-unit complex dry Tuesday.
A boil and conserve water advisory has been issued by the DEP and will remain in place until tests confirm the water is safe to drink, Forrest Brooke’s manager Pete Havens said.
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Storm damages trees, wires
Thunderstorms ripped through parts of Mercer and neighboring counties Wednesday night, downing trees and wires and keeping rescue workers on their toes.
A Mercer County 911 dispatcher shortly after 8 p.m. said they were busy with calls across the northern part of the county. He said there had been a few reports of trees falling on homes.
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City leaders open to talks
Sharon officials aren’t opposed to sitting down with their counterparts in Farrell to revisit the idea of combining the two struggling cities.
“It never costs a penny to talk and there’s no (idea) that’s not worth looking at,” Sharon councilman Ed Palanski said. “I think it would be foolish to oppose looking at the idea.”
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Murphy’s Law doesn’t faze regional planners
A complicated, two-day public meeting blitz in 32 counties ran headlong into Murphy’s Law in Mercer County on Tuesday.
The group Power of 32 are looking to re-write the regional map and create a grand, 15-year strategic economic plan for the 32 counties in four states that make up the Ohio River basin and greater Pittsburgh area.
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Forrest Brooke copes with water outage
Residents of Forrest Brooke Mobile Home Community in Jefferson and Lackawannock Townships woke up Tuesday morning to find they didn’t have any water.
Managers of the park could not be reached for comment, but residents said they were told they won’t get water service back for at least another month.
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City facing bleak financial reality
LaVon Saternow has been Farrell’s city manager since 1992. Shortly after she took the job, Sharon Steel, the city’s economic engine, officially closed down.
Since, the city has struggled to remain solvent and Mrs. Saternow said it is facing its worst financial crisis in her tenure.
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Near-complete addition to let man come home
Although the weather delayed the start of Penny and Paul Strechansky’s construction project by about three weeks, the end of the sawing, hammering and stapling is in sight.
“It should be done by the middle of next week,” Strechansky said of the 15-by-20 foot addition being built onto the back of his garage in Hermitage, which will be the new home of his grandson, David Johnson.
Johnson was critically injured in a car crash June 19, 2009, on what is now Interstate 376 in Lawrence County. The crash rendered Johnson, who just turned 21, blind and brain damaged. He is unable to care for himself.
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Stacey wants to continue fight over razed home
