LANCASTER, Ohio — Some students in central Ohio want a police K-9 unit to keep protecting the community, so they’ve helped protect the dog’s job.

The sheriff’s department in central Ohio’s Fairfield County had planned to retire its last dog, Arno, this year to save about $15,000 in annual training and other expenses.

However, Sheriff Dave Phalen now says Arno will stay on the job thanks to local fundraising efforts that have collected $4,000 since January.

Students at Bloom Carroll High School have been wrapping dog biscuits being sold for the cause. Phalen took Arno to visit the school on Wednesday.

Sophomore Eric Donohoo tells the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette he once watched a demonstration of a police dog taking a man down so he knows how important the animals can be.

SHEFFIELD TWP. — Thomas Johnson was a heck of a country line dancer who loved life, enjoyed good friends and adored the family pets.

In fact, it may have been saving his German shepherd named Rox, and a number of house cats that contributed to his death during a fire Tuesday night in the Detroit Road home he shared with his mother, Sue Johnson.

“Our thinking was that with the fire beginning in the bedroom, he may have gone downstairs to open the (front) door to let the animals out,” Johnson’s brother-in-law Rob Swindell said Wednesday.

A freelance writer for The Chronicle-Telegram, Swindell is married to Johnson’s sister, Gina.

More photos below.

Johnson, 35, died from apparent smoke inhalation and probable carbon monoxide poisoning, according to Lorain County Coroner Dr. Paul Matus, who said he was still awaiting results from some tests before issuing a final report.

Matus said authorities theorized Johnson may have safely made it out of the home only to go back inside in an attempt to save family pets, including the German shepherd.

“That is one hypothesis but we really don’t know why,” Matus said.

Swindell said family members also speculated whether Johnson went downstairs to open the front door to provide an escape route for the dog and four cats, before going back upstairs to try and extinguish the fire and call 911.

“But that’s all guesswork. We’ll never really know,” he said.

The front door was standing open in Tuesday night’s bitterly cold temperatures when two men showed up and attempted to enter to see if anyone was there, but heavy smoke on the second floor prevented them from going up. Johnson was in the house alone when found by firefighters in an upstairs bedroom. He was rushed to EMH Regional Medical Center, where he died.

His mother was working at the time at her job as a waitress at Helen and Kal’s Kitchen, an Avon restaurant, according to Swindell.

Investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office ruled Wednesday afternoon that the fire was accidental in nature, and caused by careless disposal of cigarettes in a plastic trash can in Johnson’s bedroom.

Sheffield Township firefighters told investigators there appeared to be evidence that Johnson tried to put the fire out himself when they found a bathtub faucet running and a pan in the floor of the bedroom, according to Shane Cartmill, public information officer for the State Fire Marshal.

Investigators confirmed the home was not equipped with working smoke alarms. Fire damage was confined to the second floor.

All of the pets were accounted for, Swindell said. “We’re trying to create living space for all of them right now. They were (Sue Johnson’s) children.”

Thomas Johnson, who was single, had worked at a number of jobs, including one at a nearby sign company.

“He worked there a couple of years, but lost his job last year when the place went out of business,” Swindell said. “He’d had some tough breaks along the way.”

While he lived most of his life in Ohio, Johnson periodically traveled to Tennessee looking for work.

“Tom really cared about his family,” Swindell said. “He had good friends, enjoyed bowling, and was one of the best local country line dancers” at the height of its popularity in the mid-1990s.

Originally from Chicago, Johnson was also a big Chicago Bears fan.

“He was pretty excited” about the Bears nearly making it to the Super Bowl this year, Swindell said.

Heather Seel, a longtime friend of Tom Johnson, said via Facebook the pair were members of a dance team at the old Boot II country western-themed club in North Ridgeville.

“We were old friends … since we were kids, probably 11 or 12 years old. Tommy knew a lot of people from there (Boot II). He was a regular … everyone loved him and his backflips on the dance floor.”

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

CT photo by Bruce Bishop.

NEW RUSSIA TWP. — An Elyria man is in critical condition at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland following an accident this morning.

Scott Sukey, 64, was taken to the hospital by Life Flight.

Sukey was driving west on Butternut Ridge Road a little before 9 a.m. in a 1996 Chevrolet Corsica when he apparently failed to stop for a stop sign at state Route 58. He was hit by a 1999 Ford F-150 pickup being driven north by Kevin Patton, 30, of Wellington.

Sukey’s vehicle slid off the roadway and struck a utility pole, according to the State Highway Patrol. He had to be removed from his vehicle by firefighters.

Both Sukey and Patton were taken by ambulance to Mercy’s Allen Medical Center in Oberlin. Patton was treated and released, and Sukey was transferred to Metro.

According to the patrol, Sukey was wearing a seat belt, and Patton was not. The crash remains under investigation.

SHEFFIELD TWP. — The state fire marshal’s office has been called to investigate a house fire that claimed the life of a 35-year-old man Tuesday night.

Firefighters from three area departments raced to the scene of the two-story white frame house on state Route 254 about 6 p.m. after receiving reports of a fire, Sheffield Township Fire Chief Joe Bandagski said.

When they arrived, they found a man upstairs who had been overcome by smoke, who was removed from the house by firefighters, Bandagski said.

The victim, Thomas Johnson, 35, was transported to EMH Regional Medical Center in Elyria and pronounced dead, Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus said. Rescue crews tried to revive Johnson using CPR, but “it was hopeless,” according to Matus.

“It’s apparent death by smoke inhalation,” Matus said, but he would not give a formal cause of death until after examining the body today.

It was not immediately known whether Johnson suffered any burns. He was alone in the house at the time, but it was not clear whether he owned the home.

Johnson’s mother arrived soon after the fire broke out and left immediately for EMH, Bandagski said.

Tom Hoerrle, a board member of the Sheffield Village Historical Society, arrived before firefighters after he heard initial reports of the fire.

“I was just around the corner on Route 57. Flames were shooting out of the northwest bedroom opposite the school (Vincent Elementary School, adjacent to the house).”

Hoerrle and a second man who showed up entered the house together.

“The front door was standing wide open. It seemed strange, but I wouldn’t want to speculate on anything. We just walked in. There were lights on downstairs. We could see up the stairs and could see the bedroom glow (from the fire). We didn’t venture upstairs. It was too dangerous. The smoke was pretty intense at that time. It was coming out of the windows upstairs.”

A German shepherd was lying on a living room couch when the two men entered.

“The dog wouldn’t move. It was protective or afraid. I don’t think he was too pleased we were in his house. He was alive and growling but seemed OK.”

The eventual fate of the dog was not immediately known, but Sheffield Township firefighters were later seen tending to a large black and white cat inside an ambulance.

A firefighter was later seen cradling the cat in his arms.

It wasn’t known whether the cat had come from the house.

No one else appeared to be in the house, Hoerrle said, a fact that was later verified by Bandagski.

The two men left the home once firefighters arrived.

Firefighters and vehicles from Sheffield and Elyria Township also responded to the fire.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com or Kaitlin Bushinski at 329-7144 or kbushinski@chroniclet.com.