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View Full Version : No charges filed in Buckwheat Fire



RitcheyRch
11-14-2007, 11:18 AM
John and Ken on KFI-640 were saying that the boy and his father were illegals and have fled back to Mexico.
Meant Buckweed fire and not Buckwheat. :)
http://www.the-signal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=51696&format=html
The District Attorney's office will not file charges against the 10-year-old boy who started the Buckweed Fire that ravaged the valley last month.
After evaluation of the case, a petition will not be filed in juvenile court, according to a Tuesday news release from the county District Attorney's office.
The matter has been referred to the county Department of Children and Family Services, "to determine if other intervention is necessary," according to the release.
The boy, whose name has not been released, admitted to investigators that he was playing with matches Oct. 21 and accidentally started the fire that charred some 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes.
Both the boy and his parents lived at Carousel Ranch, where his father was a caretaker, ranch director Denise Tomey said last month.
Tomey could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Late last month, she told The Signal that "the child is no longer living at the ranch ... We asked the boy to leave."
Tomey said that the boy was not involved in Carousel Ranch's equestrian therapy programs.
The Buckweed Fire reportedly started about 30 feet outside of the ranch property, pushed by powerful Santa Ana winds through Agua Dulce and Canyon Country.
The fire forced the evacuation of homes in the Bouquet Canyon Road area on the afternoon of Oct. 21 and, later that evening, homes in the neighborhood of Whites Canyon Road were also evacuated.
Five people were injured in the blaze that kept hundreds of firefighters busy for three intense days, and for the remainder of the week mopping up. One man suffered second- and third-degree burns trying to protect his property.
Because the case involved a minor, the District Attorney's office provided no further information Tuesday, and spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons declined to add anything beyond what was in the news release.