A young boy admitted he accidentally started one of the wildfires that roared through Southern California when he was playing with matches, state detective said Tuesday night.
The child admitted to starting the Buckweed Fire on Oct. 21, Los Angeles County sheriffs said. Officials have released the boy to his parents. The case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for further action, officials said.
The blaze, located in Agua Dulce, injured four people, destroyed at least 63 structures — including 15 homes — and burned more than 38,000 acres, the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported on its website.
More than 15,000 people were evacuated because of the Buckweed Fire, and the state spent at least 7.4 million U.S. dollars to fully contain that blaze.
The multiple Southern California blazes killed 14 people, burned a half-million acres and destroyed more than 2,000 homes. The wildfires sparked one of the biggest evacuations in the state's history as firefighters struggled to contain the blazes.
Officials were investigating several reports that some of the fires were set by arsonists.
A week before, police shot and killed a man who fled when officers approached to see if he might be trying to set a fire. San Bernardino police said the man was shot following a chase that ended when the unidentified Arizona man backed his car into a cruiser and an officer opened fire.
On Sept. 24, a man accused of setting a small brush fire in a rural foothill area of the San Bernardino Mountains was booked for investigation of arson. However, San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said authorities don't know if he is connected to any of the region's wildfires.
Source: Xinhua/Agencies
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