A 16-year-old boy has been charged with third-degree arson for allegedly setting off a mortar-shaped firework that ignited a 28-acre property in Idaho, police said.
According to reports, two Bureau of Land Management (BLM) firefighters responded to the inferno fire Saturday around 9 p.m. eagle police station.
An investigation by Ada County Sheriff’s Deputies found evidence that a group of teens driving an SUV on BLM property used fireworks to start the fire, police reported.
Police said other members of the group warned the unidentified 16-year-old, who allegedly set off fireworks in the group, not to light fireworks in the area because it could start a wildfire.
The boy allegedly ignored the warnings and detonated the explosives “a short time later” while the SUV was parked, causing a fire.
The group attempted to extinguish the fire but were unsuccessful.
With no other option, one of the other boys in the group called 911.
When officers arrived, the boy who allegedly set off the fireworks fled from the SUV and hid to avoid arrest.
According to law enforcement, “officers quickly located the boy in a canal in the area,” then handcuffed him, slapped him, and transported him to the Ada County Juvenile Detention Center.
Charges against the teen are still pending.
Several other agencies had to help fight the fire, but crews were able to bring the blaze under control just after midnight Sunday. eagle fire department.
Aerial fireworks are It’s illegal to shoot in Idahoalthough it is legal to purchase within the state.
More than 2,500 of Idaho’s 9 million acres have been on fire around the state since early 2023, according to the government. report.
Of the 277 individual fire-related incidents, 117 were caused by humans.
Fireworks were the cause of six small wildfires over the Fourth of July weekend in neighboring Washington state, news agencies announced. Katu.
Washington State Department of Natural Resources Public Lands Secretary Hilary Franz told the outlet in July that the six fires were quickly extinguished.
Franz detailed a small fire in 2017 that engulfed more than 48,000 acres in the state after a teenager threw fireworks on a trail off the Columbia River Gorge.
“That was literally just fireworks. I mean, it shows you how dangerous it is. It shows you how important it is. I think this fire cost over $32 million to fight. “, Franz told the media.
