Residents told by suspected arsonist their home was on fire

NORWOOD, Ohio - Despite their best efforts, Norwood's bravest couldn't get Monday morning's flames at 1614 Sherman Avenue knocked down soon enough.

"Looks like it will be a total loss for the building," said Fire Chief Curt Goodman.

The owner of the two family home says that's just about spot on.
       
"I don't know if I can rebuild it," said Dan Hardin.
    
Standing in front of the charred house, Hardin says the fire was no accident.

"Me and my girlfriend of 15 years had been in a bad argument," he said.

Apparently a barn-burner of an argument.

"She actually did say, 'I'm gonna burn your house down,' " he said. "But you take that as 'OK, you're just threatening me."

Still, he took her seriously enough to get out. That's when he realized she wasn't kidding.

"That's wasn't a threat," he said. "She made it real."

Fifty-two-year-old Stephanie Krauser  is under arrest and charged with setting the fire. But, police say, as aggravated arsons go, this one could have been a lot worse.

While the house was burning, she visited the downstairs tenant.

"She came down, knocked on the door and said, 'You better get out, I set the place on fire,' " acknowledged Norwood Police Lt. Tom Williams.

The tenant got out, a neighboring nursing home was evacuated and no one was injured.

Still, Williams thinks there might have been some other way the couple could have ironed out their differences.

"When you allegedly make the threat to your boyfriend that you're going to burn the place down simply because you get mad, I think that's really taking it to an extreme," he said.

The home was valued at $46,000.

Krauser is in the Hamilton County Justice Center awaiting arraignment.