Young boy admits starting California fire
A boy playing with matches started one of the Californian wildfires which destroyed 21 homes, police said today.
The boy, who has not been named, is aged under 13 but no other details about him have been released and a state prosecutor has been asked to consider criminal charges.
The boy admitted starting the fire which spread quickly fanned by strong winds on October 21.
“He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire,” a police spokesman said.
Arson investigators first talked to the boy’s parents on October 22 after determining the blaze began the day before in the back garden of their home in Agua Dulce, 40 miles north of Los Angeles.
Their home was not damaged.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said prosecutors had yet to determine if the boy’s parents would be held accountable for any financial losses caused by the fire.
The fire was among 15 that destroyed 2,100 homes and scorched 809 square miles from Los Angeles to the Mexican border last week.
Seven deaths were blamed directly on the fires, six evacuees died of natural causes and one person died of a fall.
Authorities arrested five other people for arson, but none have been linked to any of the major blazes.
In Orange County investigators have blamed an arsonist for starting a fire that burned 28,500 acres and destroyed 16 homes.
Police are looking for the driver of a white Ford pickup truck spotted in a canyon area around the time the fire broke out. They said they wanted to talk to the driver, but would not say if he was a suspect.
Officials offered a 285,000 (€197,000) reward to anyone with information that will lead to an arrest and conviction.
Meanwhile, all but four of the fires are now fully contained.
Firefighters today continued to cut lines around the remaining ones and kept a close eye on the weather.
Forecasters have said moderate Santa Ana winds could pick up later in the week.
