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Boys charged with starting fire in junkyard
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| Billowing black smoke rises from a fire that two Willcox-area children, ages 10 and 12, were charged with starting last week at a junkyard in Willcox. (Carol Broeder/ARN) |
By Carol Broeder/Arizona Range News
Two Willcox-area children are charged with starting a fire in a junkyard east of the railroad tracks.
Willcox Police and Fire Departments, as well as the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Cochise County Sheriff's Office, responded to First Avenue and East Grant Street at 5:18 p.m. last Wednesday.
It had been reported that several vehicles were on fire in the junkyard there.
Jake Weaver, the city's chief of police, said that a school bus packed with combustibles, a small trailer, a four-door sedan, and a minivan were fully engulfed.
It took about 8,000 gallons of water and a little more than an hour to extinguish the fire, he said.
The 10- and 12-year-old males had started the fire with paper doused with "an unknown chemical they had found" inside the junkyard, Weaver said.
The two youth told police they tried to put the fire out themselves, but fueled by weeds, it had become too big.
The juveniles were charged with one count each of trespassing, second degree; one count each of reckless burning, and six counts each of endangerment.
The two were given juvenile referrals and released to their parents.
"The six counts of endangerment were for the firefighters, because we didn't know what was in there" that might explode, Weaver told the Range News.
In February 2006, this junkyard was the scene of the largest meth lab bust in Arizona's history, Weaver said in 2006.
Willcox Police and Fire Departments, as well as the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Cochise County Sheriff's Office, responded to First Avenue and East Grant Street at 5:18 p.m. last Wednesday.
It had been reported that several vehicles were on fire in the junkyard there.
Jake Weaver, the city's chief of police, said that a school bus packed with combustibles, a small trailer, a four-door sedan, and a minivan were fully engulfed.
It took about 8,000 gallons of water and a little more than an hour to extinguish the fire, he said.
The 10- and 12-year-old males had started the fire with paper doused with "an unknown chemical they had found" inside the junkyard, Weaver said.
The two youth told police they tried to put the fire out themselves, but fueled by weeds, it had become too big.
The juveniles were charged with one count each of trespassing, second degree; one count each of reckless burning, and six counts each of endangerment.
The two were given juvenile referrals and released to their parents.
"The six counts of endangerment were for the firefighters, because we didn't know what was in there" that might explode, Weaver told the Range News.
In February 2006, this junkyard was the scene of the largest meth lab bust in Arizona's history, Weaver said in 2006.
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| Tina Scott is November artist of the month | Religion Brief |
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