SEBRING — Within just a few days, a village woman found herself a widow as well as a defendant in response to an incident at her Oregon Avenue home.

Dawn McDonald is in the Mahoning County jail awaiting her preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. Feb. 28 in Mahoning County Court No. 3 in Sebring before Judge Joe Schiavoni.

She was arraigned Feb. 12, which was 10 days after the criminal incident, on charges of aggravated arson, a first-degree felony; having weapons under disability, a third-degree felony; two counts of assault on emergency personnel (one police and one EMS), both fourth-degree felonies; aggravated menacing, a fifth-degree felony; and disorderly conduct with persistence, fourth-degree misdemeanor.

Sebring dispatch received a call from McDonald’s husband shortly before 10:50 p.m. Feb. 2 from the couple’s home in the 300 block of East Oregon Avenue, where he requested a welfare check. He told dispatchers his wife was threatening to walk in front of a train, a Sebring police report states.

Upon arrival, the responding officer contacted the Sebring Fire Department for assistance. McDonald could be heard screaming, wanting everyone to leave and threatening to coax her two dogs to attack first responders, the report states.

The husband’s attempts to calm her down failed, as she continued to scream threats before fighting with officers and EMS. Officer Rachael Strata and Sgt. Aaron Peterman attempted to get her away from a nearby oxygen tank, which she was threatening to ignite with a lighter to cause an explosion and kill everyone in the house, the report states.

McDonald then lit the lighter on the left side of Strata’s head, causing her hair to ignite and burn, according to police. The fire was quickly extinguished, causing no injuries, and McDonald was quickly detained, according to the report.

Distracted by Dawn McDonald’s behavior, officers hadn’t noticed her distraught husband had left the room. The officers then heard a noise from inside the residence. When they went to investigate with weapons drawn, they discovered he had caused injury to himself, the report states.

He was transported by EMS to the Alliance Hospital, where he later died.

If convicted of all charges, the maximum penalty for Dawn McDonald is 16.5 years in prison and $37,500 in fines.