LIBERTY – According to to Liberty Township fire Chief Gus Birch, an arsonist set the fire Wednesday at the former Budget Luxury Inn.

That is what the Ohio Fire Marshall ruled after firefighters from Liberty, as well as Girard, Brookfield and the Youngstown Air Reserve Station were called around 4 p.m. Wednesday to 1610 Motor Inn Drive.

Lindsay Burnworth of the Ohio Fire Marshal’s Office said that there were no utilities hooked up at the property, eliminating the possibility the blaze may have been an electrical fire.

Burnworth also noted the fire began on the first floor of the building, then spread to six other rooms, including some second floor rooms, and eventually made its way to the roof.

The former hotel, situated behind the former Holiday Inn Metroplex on Belmont Avenue, had been vacant for two years, and Birch said questions about the building’s stability caused issued when battling the blaze.

“Our inspection division has warned us about that building for years, so we had to attack it from the outside to get the flames knocked down,” Birch said. “When it came to sending guys into the building, we had to be careful because of holes on the floor or the ceiling possible collapsing. There was nothing in there worth getting a firefighter injured over.”

Birch said it took firefighters roughly an hour and a half to get the fire put out. Three firefighters suffered from heat exhaustion and another twisted his knee, but Birch said all four were treated at the scene and did not need to be taken to a hospital.

According to the Trumbull County Auditor’s Office records, the property’s total value is $582,400. Records show the most recent owner is Girard Hospitality Limited Partnership, which purchased the motel site in 2006.

When asked for an estimate of the damage done during Wednesday’s fire, Birch said that a figure would be hard to draw from the vacant property.

“It’s really hard to put a value (on the damage) because it’s abandoned and there is really nothing in there of value,” Birch said.

Wednesday’s fire was the latest in a string of issues with the properties in that area, including the former Metroplex, which twice caught fire in March. Birch said Thursday that he hopes the township will do something to demolish or secure the former Budget Luxury Inn building.

“I’d like to see something done about that property before someone gets seriously injured or killed,” Birch said.

“We know that homeless people had been living inside the property, although I can’t confirm that was happening at the time of the fire.”

charris@tribtoday.com