Firestarter:5-year-old boy accused of starting house fire

[onedef92]

5-year-old boy accused of starting house fire with lighter

PALM BAY -- Firefighters said a 5-year-old Brevard County boy playing with a lighter ended up starting a fire inside his home.

Palm Bay firefighters responded to reports of a fire just after noon Monday at a home on the 1000 block of Bacon Circle Northeast.

After they arrived, firefighters quickly stopped the fire, which was located in a bedroom.

Fire officials said further investigation revealed that the boy, along with his 3-year-old sister, were in a bedroom, when the 5-year-old found a lighter and began lighting small items on fire.

The resulting fire spread to the mattress and ultimately caused about $5,000 in damage to the single-family home, investigators said.

"The smoke detector alerted the mother, who was in the living room at the time of the fire," said Assistant Fire Marshal Ron Bailey. "Fortunately, they were all able to safely evacuate the home, and no one was injured."

Fire officials said the boy will be required to attend a Juvenile Fire Setters Intervention Course

[ApexOversteer]

No way! Lighters are child proof these days. Couldn't have happened.

[Jobaka]

Juvenile firesetting has been identified as the fastest growing fire threat in the United States. Annual statistics show that more than 300 people are killed, and nearly $300 million dollars in property is destroyed by fires set by children. More than 30-percent of the victims are the children themselves.

Source (http://www.burninstitute.org/fbp/programs/juvenile.html)

:willy:

[Datawiz]

Appropriate street name: Bacon Circle :rofl::rofl:

[ApexOversteer]

:willy:

Some interesting math on that page...

They say...

"Juvenile firesetting has been identified as the fastest growing fire threat in the United States. Annual statistics show that more than 300 people are killed, and nearly $300 million dollars in property is destroyed by fires set by children. More than 30-percent of the victims are the children themselves."

... and then say...

"Nationally, children who play with fire cause nearly 80,000 structure fires per year which result in approximately 760 deaths and more than 3,500 injuries."

...and ...

"Juvenile firesetting does an estimated 1.2 billion dollars in damage annually."

... and then...

"Juvenile arson and youth-set fires result in over 300 deaths and 2,000 injuries annually, and $300 million in property damage and more than 400,000 incidents annually"

So is it 300 deaths, or nearly twice that? $300MM in damage, or 4 times that?

[Yamma]

My cousin's kid did the same thing.....

[Jobaka]

Some interesting math on that page...

They say...

more than 300 people are killed

... and then say...

approximately 760 deaths



Well, 760 is more than 300, so...



It would appear that the list was cobbled together from different sources without much thought (or effort) to edit it for clarity. Maybe they were busy fighting fires.

[Sea Six]

Well, 760 is more than 300, so...



It would appear that the list was cobbled together from different sources without much thought (or effort) to edit it for clarity. Maybe they were busy fighting fires.

:iagree:

Or putting them out.

[mrvette]

Some maybe ten years ago, house up around the corner caught fire, destroyed about 1/2 the house, kids involved, but no one hurt, house rebuilt immediately......


about 2.5 years ago, house the street over caught fire, grandkid in the kitchen of this CPA guy, house loaded with clients crap from years back....

sounded like a clutter/hoarder anyway it was put out, and then the thing caught fire AGAIN, reignited from junk/papers in the garage area.....

both houses were masonry/cinder block construction, but this last one was SO hot, they raised the house including the slab and driveway.....

anyone want a cheep florida lot???:seasix:

[onedef92]

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x121/audra11561/Firestarter.jpg

Pretty dope Stephen King flick with Drew Barrymore back in the day....