A 10-year-old boy played with a cigarette lighter and ignited a fire at a Santa Ana apartment complex, torching two vehicles and a trailer that belonged to a church, a fire captain said Saturday.
The child was not injured during the fire at 1810 W. 4th St., said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi.
Firefighters were dispatched at 2:27 p.m. Friday and had the fire out within 15 minutes of their arrival, said Concialdi. The fire caused a total of $50,000 worth of damage.
The fire captain said the 10-year-old boy will be the fourth child in five days to participate in the department’s Fire F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Juvenile Firesetter program, geared toward educating children on the dangers of fire.
The Fire F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Program is a collaboration of community based partners joining together with the common goal of reducing the number of deaths, burn injuries and property destruction caused by juvenile firesetting, providing fire safety education and intervention to children with an interest in fire or explosives, and to those who have been involved in a firesetting incident, according to the program’s website.
—City News Service