The parents of a toddler found in a smoky apartment Monday evening were charged with endangering a child and reckless endangerment after they were found passed out drunk in their apartment while a pot of noodle soup was burning on the stove, said Hermitage police, Hermitage fire officials and neighbors at the scene.

Fourteen-month-old Alexis Schultz was in satisfactory condition Tuesday evening at UPMC Horizon, Farrell, a nursing supervisor said.

Her parents, Lisa Marie Boyle, 27, and Lawrence Schultz, 33, of 1465 Bolde Drive, Apartment 2D, were arraigned Tuesday morning before District Justice Henry J. Russo and released on their own recognizance.

The charges stem from Monday's fire, which was reported by neighbors at Shenango Park Apartments.

"I noticed smoke seeping out of the door. It was not completely shut, kind of cracked open," said neighbor Jayme Stewart. "I opened the door and a whole bunch of smoke came out and I saw (Schultz) lying on the couch naked."

Ms. Stewart said she and 14-year-old neighbor Terrence Phillips Jr. shouted but couldn't rouse Schultz. Ms. Stewart said she saw the toddler sitting on the floor naked by the kitchen, where the smoke was coming from. She said she picked up the child, handed her to Terrence and turned off the burner on the stove, where a pot of noodle soup was burned black.

"Jayme got a diaper (from her own apartment) and Terrence got a blanket for her. She was very underweight," said Carol Phillips, Terrence's mother, who had also knocked on the door and yelled to rouse the neighbors.

"He's (Schultz) never been in trouble before. They're nice people. They just drink and get stupid. I've kept the baby before when they were drunk," Ms. Phillips said.

"They are beautiful people when they are not drinking. The baby is sweet. My kids love her (the baby) to death."

A Hermitage firefighter found the baby's mother passed out in the back bedroom, a fire official said.

Although the fire was ruled accidental, Hermitage Fire Marshal Robert S. Goeltz said there have been two other fire-related incidents involving Ms. Boyle in Hermitage.

Police Chief Ed Stanton said the family formerly lived in Dutch Lane Mobile Home Estates and their trailer was destroyed by fire in February. The family escaped that fire unscathed and neighbors rushed to clothe the undressed baby, according to a story in The Herald.

Stanton said there also was a previous fire at the Shenango Park apartment.

Ms. Boyle also was charged with reckless endangerment and child endangerment when she lived at 73 Shenango St. in Sharpsville, according to a Mercer County court official, Sharpsville police and a spokesman at District Justice James E. McMahon's Sharon office. Those charges were filed after a March 2000 incident when a neighbor called to complain that a child was crying and trying to wake up her mother, Sharpsville police and a district court official said. That was a different child, Ms. Boyle's Hermitage neighbors said.

Ms. Boyle also has been charged before with public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, making terroristic threats and summary offenses, according to a spokesman for McMahon. The terroristic threats charge was dismissed, the spokesman said.