Authorities are trying to decide whether or not they should charge the child, who is under the age of 13, for starting a wildfire in California with matches which ended up destroying over 60 buildings.
A boy has admitted to accidentally starting a wildfire with matches last week. Police have already questioned the boy who is now known to be under the age of 13. They stated that the fire he started with matches eventually ended up destroying 38,000 acres of land near Santa Clarita.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, the boy has “admitted that he had been playing with matches.”
The original thought was that downed power lines started the blaze, but that was false. Seven people died due to the fires including four who were thought to be illegal immigrants.
The damage in total is more than $1 billion in San Diego county alone. Almost 2,000 homes cross the state were completely destroyed as the fire he started was one of 24 fires in Southern California last week.
Police are offering a 250,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of who started a fire in Orange County. Police already shot dead a 27-year-old from Arizona as he was a suspected arsonist and failed to adhere to police.
It seems that at least one of the fires all began just because of a little boy with matches.