The young boy who started one of the worst of Southern California's wildfires last month will not be criminally charged, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office said Tuesday. The 10-year-old boy had admitted to police that he had started the fire accidentally while playing with matches Oct. 21. Had he been charged with arson, he could have been made a ward of the state under California law.
"After a careful evaluation of the evidence, the District Attorney's Office will not file a petition in Juvenile Court against the minor accused of starting the Buckweed Fire," a statement from D.A. Steve Cooley said Tuesday afternoon. "The evidence presented by Sheriff's investigators was that the fire was caused by the 10-year-old boy playing with matches and accidentally igniting the brush. There is no evidence of intent on the part of the minor. The District Attorney's Office is referring the matter to the Department of Children and Family Services for evaluation of the minor's situation to determine if other intervention is necessary."
The 10-year-old sparked the Buckweed fire in Los Angeles County, which destroyed 21 homes and injured at least three people. The fires in Southern California toward the end of October incinerated more than 800 square miles — an area 40 times as large as Manhattan — and destroyed some 2,100 homes.