An Axtell woman is charged with second-degree arson after authorities say she unsuccessfully tried to set fire to a neighbor’s home .

This is the second time she has been charged with the crime.

McLennan County Sheriff’s officials say the homeowner, David Alexander, awoke

Feb. 28 to the sound of Ashley Marie Howard, 27, talking to herself “in a mad tone of voice” outside his double-wide trailer on the 100 block of Happy Swaner Lane, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Howard, carrying a can of lighter fluid, had stacked firewood on the porch and was trying to light one of the logs, but the flame kept going out, the affidavit says.

Then, she walked to his truck, poured lighter fluid inside the cab and left, the affidavit says.

Howard was arrested Friday and booked into the McLennan County Jail on $20,000 bond.

Records show she was indicted for arson in December 2008.

Though Alexander’s home wasn’t damaged, the state penal code says a person can be charged with arson “regardless if the fire continues after ignition.”