Damaged apartment door, surrounding floor

The Ironton fire and police departments responded to a fire early Monday morning at Sherman Thompson Towers caused by an act of arson.

“Someone set a wreath on an apartment door on fire, which sparked the door pretty good and did damage to the floor around the outside of the apartment,” Ironton Fire Chief Mike Mahlmeister said. “The incident happened around 2 a.m. and the fire was set intentionally.”

Mahlmeister added that two fire crews were sent to the scene due to the initial call of smoke coming out from under the door sounding worse than what was actually the case.

“We sent one crew up and then had another one on standby,” Mahlmeister said. “The scene was cleared sometime between 3 and 3:30 a.m.”

The fire caused extensive damage to the door, the floor around the door and some smoke damage inside the apartment.

Mahlmeister said at the time of the fire, one male was in the room, and was taken to the hospital for minor smoke inhalation sustained when he tried to put the fire out himself.

Ironton Police Chief Pam Wagner, who was on scene with Sgt. Brian Pauley, said the department knows who started the fire, an elderly female, but is not releasing the name at this time.