BUTTE — Roy Edward Smith has been charged in connection with a Monday evening fire at an apartment building in Butte.
Butte police arrested 60-year-old Smith and he is facing two counts of felony arson in connection with the fire that happened on the fourth floor of the Mueller Apartment building on West Granite Street.
Smith is accused of starting a fire in the building at about 8:45 p.m. that filled the building with heavy smoke and forced an evacuation. Police had to rescue a man from the fourth floor who was overcome by the smoke.
The victim was hospitalized; there is no word on the person's current condition.
Smith was taken into custody Monday evening as a person of interest in the fire. He remains jailed as of Wednesday.
(FEBRUARY 2) Butte police rescued a man overcome by smoke from a possible fire in an apartment building Monday evening.
Police and firefighters responded to the Mueller Apartments on West Granite Street at about 8:45 p.m. on a report of smoke in the building.
Police evacuated the building and two officers climbed to the fourth floor where the smoke was getting thicker.
They found a man there who was having difficulty breathing and moving, so the officers carried him out of the building.
The victim was taken to St. James HealthCare where he remains hospitalized Tuesday morning.
Firefighters located the cause of the smoke in an apartment on the fourth floor. The cause remains under investigation Tuesday.
