YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Sabrina Fisher hasn’t been able to sleep for three weeks.

Ever since an infestation of cockroaches broke out in her East Side neighborhood on Duncan Lane, she has been wary to close her eyes, and one night, she said that wariness was well warranted.

“I woke up and there was a big-a** cockroach on my shoulder,” she said.

Fisher and other neighbors watched Thursday as city housing officials inspected the home on the street where the infestation is coming from and forced the homeowners to find some other place to stay.

The city had “red tagged” — or deemed the house uninhabitable — on Aug. 7, and told the people who lived there they had to find another place to live until the house can become inhabitable again.

Fisher and neighbor Jessica Manor said the infestation has been going on for three weeks and there are also rats coming from the home.

The Youngstown Health Department along with code enforcement had an exterminator come out to deal with the cockroaches and rats. They will be spraying neighbors’ properties as well as the problem house.

Fisher and Manor both said they had been calling city officials during that time, and they did come out and put down rat traps. However, Manor said her cat brought one of the traps home and when she tried to throw it away, it was covered with cockroaches, she said.

Manor said the cockroaches made their way into her home and into the refrigerator, which now needs to be replaced.

Fisher said the cockroaches also made their way into her home and her yard.

Manor and Fisher both said they have spent hundreds of dollars on exotic bug sprays to battle the rats, but they have done no good.

Fisher said the home that was condemned had been occupied for five years and there was never an issue until last month. She has lived in the neighborhood since 1997 and said nothing like this has ever happened before.

“We never had no roaches, we never had no rats,” Fisher said.

A code enforcement spokesman on the scene said he has never seen any rats and none were visible, but the health department put the traps out because of the complaints by the neighbors.

The spokesman said it is not yet clear if the house will be demolished. It is owned by an out-of-state landlord.