A 16-year-old boy from Meridian, Idaho, has been charged with third-degree arson after lighting a firework that caused a 28-acre fire, authorities said.
Last week, the Eagle Police Department (EPD) shared in a post on Facebook that the fire departments for the Middleton, Star and Meridian districts, as well as the Bureau of Land Management, responded to the fire around 9 p.m. local time on Sept. 16.
Per police, Ada County Sheriff’s Office deputies determined from evidence collected that the teen — whose identity has not been revealed — wanted to ignite a mortar-style firework while out with other boys his age. At the time, police said the boys were driving through the Bureau of Land Management’s territory in an SUV.
Even though “the other boys told him not to, because it might start a fire in the area,” authorities said that “initial information indicates” that the teenager set off the firework “a brief time later when the SUV was parked,” which caused some nearby brush to catch on fire.
“The boys tried to put the fire out but were unsuccessful. They then drove away. One of the boys called 911 to report what happened,” police wrote in their social media statement. “Before deputies could meet them, the boy who lit the firework got out of the SUV and ran away.”
EPD then wrote that deputies later found the boy by a nearby canal and took him into custody at the Ada County Juvenile Detention Center.
The teenager’s court case is currently pending at Ada County Juvenile Court, according to the social media statement.
Police also said that firefighters successfully contained the fire by midnight and “no structures were lost.”
Based on the Department of Lands’ Idaho Fire Map, several wildfires are still burning across the state. CBS News reported that the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) tracked 86 fires in July and 92 fires in August.
As of Sept. 1, IDL Director Dustin Miller and Idaho Sportsmen issued a joint statement in which they warned residents that wildfire season is not over yet.
“We investigate the cause of every fire on the 9 million acres we protect,” Miller said. “If you start a fire negligently, under Idaho law you may be responsible for the entire cost of suppressing the fire, which can cost millions of dollars.”
