Woman Facing Charges In Clairton Fire
CLAIRTON (KDKA) -- A Clairton woman is facing multiple charges after authorities say a bed inside her home caught fire overnight.
Two families lived in the Elm Street duplex. The structure was destroyed by the fast-moving fire.
Kenyatta and Edward Clemons rented the first floor. According to the criminal complaint, the two argued late Friday after she refused her husband's advances.
The criminal complaint reports that Kenyatta Clemons told police that she yelled, 'I'm [going to] do the burning bed.'
Investigators say she then accused of retrieving a can of lighter fluid and a lighter and began to spray the lighter fluid onto the bed occupied by the victim. Authorities say she stated that it was not her intention to start a fire. She could not take verbal abuse from the victim any longer.
Her husband suffered minor burns, and she was taken into police custody.
"I think it was sad she was arrested," said Gina Mace, a neighbor. "When I heard today that there was a possibility that she may have been at fault, I was concerned it might evolve into an arrest."
Investigators say the suspect and one of the older children living in the home, a 15-year-old, tried to douse the flames with buckets of water, but that made it worse because of the accelerant used. So they grabbed the smaller children and ran out.
"Well, they seemed all right, but they never got along, you know," said Albert Kerr, a friend of the landlord. "All this commotion going on round here, you know."
She has been charged with arson, endangering the welfare of children and risking a catastrophe.
Clemons is in jail under $50,000 bond.
The man who lived on the second floor was at work at the time of the fire.
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