LA Fire Started by Boy with Matches

[piesRsquare]

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - A boy playing with matches started a fire in north Los Angeles County that consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes last week, authorities said Tuesday.

The boy, whose name and age were not released, was interviewed a day after the Buckweed Fire was sparked Oct. 21, said sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht.

"He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire," said Hecht said in a statement.

The boy was released to his parents, and the case will be be presented to the district attorney's office, Hecht said.

The 60-square-mile fire began in an area near Agua Dulce and quickly spread by fierce desert winds. It was among more than a dozen major wildfires that killed 14 people and blackened 809 square miles from Los Angeles to the Mexican border.

Authorities arrested five people for arson during that period, but none have been linked to any of the major blazes.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071031/ap_on_re_us/california_wildfires

:banghead:

[pitohui]

1. a fairly useless news report

how old was the boy? where were the parents? if the "boy" was a teen, he needs to go away, if he was say six years old and playing w. matches unsupervised, the parents need to have their salaries garnished to pay at least a portion of the costs of the fire back to the victims

[lligrd]

3. ...But For The Grace Of God...

How many of us never played with matches? Most of us did and were just lucky nothing terrible ever happened. I would get no joy out of punishing the kid or his parents. The fires are bound to happen whether by human or natural causes. The brush in CA are torches waiting for a spark. Why do we feel the need to blame and punish?

[pitohui]

6. look this kid committed a terrible crime w. terrible consequence

you go thru one of these fires and come back and tell me about how we should forgive and forget

the fire wasn't "bound to happen," it was set by a fuckwit playing with a match, and the fuckwit needs to pay a price

if i set the fire i would be in prison, depending on the age of this boy, he is either a criminal or his parents are guilty of criminal negligence

i was in san diego for the cedar fires, be trapped in a city, be told you can't go outdoors and safely breathe the fucking AIR and look at the sky and know the flames are all around you and that fire is a terrible death...well, live thru that and come back and tell me how forgiving we should be to fuckwits who think arson is a cool game

[lligrd]

9. I Live In CA And It Is Bound To Happen

all you have to do is look at the brush to know that. You clear it from around your house and pray for the best but you know it will happen.

If you did it on purpose sure you should and would be punished. It was an accident, remember those??? Maybe a stupid one, but that is where the "boy" part comes in.

[dysfunctional press]

12. "comitted a terrible crime"...

:eyes:

he's 6...it was an accident.

[orleans]

13. who said he was six? the link says

"The boy, whose name and age were not released, "

the article also says
"The boy was released to his parents,"

if the kid was six i doubt they would take the kid away, question him and then release him to his parents. this kid sounds like a teenager

[gollygee]

15. Why wouldn't they question a 6-year-old and release him to his parents?

What about the age of six makes that unlikely or impossible?

[orleans]

18. because he is a little kid. and the link never said he was six.

in order to be released to parents implies the police had custody of the child. the cops cannot just pick up a 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 year old and take them in for questioning down at the station and then "release" the kid back to the parents.

my guess is this "kid" was a teenager

[dysfunctional press]

17. my mistake- i misread an earlier post...

i missed the "if"...sorry.

[americanstranger]

8. When I was a small boy...

...I lived on a farm that bordered a farm owned by Campbell Soup. They grew tomatoes there.

One day I smuggled some kitchen matches out of our house and went out and was striking them against a rock. One thing led to another, and I ended up burning down an entire tomato field!

Luckily, it was in late fall and the tomatoes had been harvested, so Campbell's wasn't too upset. My dad, however, was plenty pissed.

Never played with matches again after that day.

- as

[XemaSab]

5. In California people who start a fire are liable for the costs of fighting it

So yeah, the parents are going to pay bigtime.

[Greeby]

2. second the banghead and add a

:wtf:

[-..__...]

4. Police have released a picture of the kid.

[lonestarnot]

7. Heh.

OMG. Kid maybe being molested... I know it's a jump, but in young arsonists, molestation is sometimes a factor.

[TahitiNut]

10. But let's be certain to punish the parents if they smoke while the kid is in the car.

:smoke:

[ConsAreLiars]

11. Poor kid. Bad enough as it is, but the hate brigades

are sure to pounce and demand blood. Kill him! Make the parents pay! And more such vindictiveness. The real problem, of course, is the underfunding of the social infrastructure that makes defending against fire and other such events possible. They need to be ready and able to deal with them, regardless of the cause - power line breaks, lightning, human error, even sabotage. But no, the haters will have their day.

[Berry Cool]

14. Why is it "hate" and "demanding blood" to ask that the family pay something?

I don't see anyone here demanding the kid be killed. You're exaggerating.

Yeah, the infrastructure is underfunded, but does that mean that kids should play with matches?

I don't think it constitutes "hate" to say no, and that if they do, maybe the family should have to help contribute somehow in restitution.

[KoKo]

16. And, how are the parents supposed to pay what it would cost to

reimburse what it cost to fight these fires? If it was an accident ...then there's nothing one can do except have equipment on hand to fight the fires. If the area is overbuilt with homes in vulnerable places and there's a drought...anything can start a fire that quickly gets out of control.

[Ezlivin]

19. F**king children

I'm glad I was never one but sprung into life as a fully-formed and informed adult male.

:)

[incapsulated]

20. No name or age released by the Sheriff

Just FYI.

L.A. County Sheriff's Department arson investigators did not name the boy believed responsible for the Buckweed fire. Nor did they give his age or the community where he and his family live.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fires31oct31,1,6328216.story?coll=la-headlines-california

[marlakay]

21. Like my husband said

those parents are fucked for life...

[SmokingJacket]

22. But it wouldn't have happened if the conditions weren't right.

I dunno, I feel like a lot of attention is being put on the "arsonists" in order to draw attention away from the terrible climatic conditions that enabled the fire. Kids fool around with matches all the time, but they don't burn down 38,000 acres.

With the winds and the dryness, almost anything could have started the fire. If it wasn't that kid, it would've been somebody dropping a cigarette.