SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A woman from Springfield has been charged with arson after a home was totaled in a fire last February.
According to court documents, Alicia Smith, 23, was charged with second-degree arson.
On February 16, 2023, Springfield Firefighters responded to a house fire in Springfield and found the living room had significant fire damage, indicating that the fire had begun in that room. The rest of the house also had significant smoke and fire damage.
The Fire Marshal found two torch-style lighters at the scene and collected them for evidence.
A witness told the Fire Marshal that they saw 23-year-old Alicia Smith walking away from the house as it started to smoke.
When the Fire Marshal interviewed Smith, she told him that she had been assaulted by a resident of the home and that he had started the fire intentionally by lighting a couch cushion on fire with a torch-style lighter.
Later, Smith admitted that she had been the one to start the fire, believing the house’s resident to still be within the house. She told the Fire Marshal she was sorry for starting the fire and promised not to do it again, according to the probable cause statement.