Wednesday morning house fire in Latrobe intentionally set, investigators say

A Latrobe man is accused of setting a couch on fire at his house Wednesday morning after an argument with a woman, according to city police.

Dale O. Smith Jr., 34, was taken into custody outside his East Monroe Street home, where the blaze was reported at 6:15 a.m. No one was hurt.

The damage was confined to the basement, said John Brasile, chief of the Latrobe Volunteer Fire Department.

“We didn’t use a lot of water, but the smoke and heat caused a lot of damage,” he said. “It’s never a good situation, even if there isn’t arson involved.”

Smith was being held on $25,000 bail at Westmoreland County Prison on charges of arson, risking a catastrophe, terroristic threats and simple assault.

Latrobe police said in court papers that a domestic dispute started several hours before the blaze. The woman reported to police that Smith returned home at 1:30 a.m. then made multiple trips to purchase lottery tickets while smoking and drinking beer, according to court papers.

She told police she refused his sexual advances, prompting Smith to become irate and rip a bathroom sink off a wall. The woman fled and about 5:20 a.m. began receiving phone calls and text messages from Smith, including photographs and videos of a couch on fire, according to court papers.

A state police fire marshal concluded the flames started on the couch in the basement.

When approached by officers outside the home during the emergency response, Smith could not provide details about how or where the fire started, according to court papers.

A preliminary hearing for Smith is scheduled for Oct. 24. He did not have an attorney listed in online court records.

Smith previously was sentenced to probationary terms in two terroristic threats cases stemming from incidents in June and October 2020 filed by state police, according to online court records.