Fire destroys home of Illinois mayor

ALORTON, Ill. – Authorities in the southern Illinois community of Alorton say an early morning fire has destroyed the home of the town’s mayor.

Alorton’s director of code enforcement, Anthony LeFlore, says authorities believe someone threw something into Mayor JoAnn Reed’s living room window that ignited the fire around 1 a.m. Monday.

LeFlore says Reed escaped her home barefoot and in her night clothes after she was awakened by a noise before her alarm company called to inform her about the fire.

Crews extinguished the blaze in about three hours. The Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office has been alerted.

The Belleville News Democrat reports Monday’s fire is the third fire to strike a residence where Reed has lived in the city southeast of St. Louis.

There have been no arrests in those previous fires.

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Information from: Belleville News-Democrat, http://www.bnd.com