Officials blamed a wildfire that consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes last week on a boy playing with matches, and said they would ask a prosecutor to consider the case.
The boy, whose name and age were not released, admitted to sparking the fire on Oct. 21, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht said Tuesday. Ferocious winds helped it quickly spread.
"He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire," Hecht said in a statement.
The boy was released to his parents, and the case will be presented to the district attorney's office, Hecht said. It was not clear if he had been arrested or cited by detectives.
The fire began in an area near Agua Dulce and quickly spread. It was among 15 or so major wildfires that destroyed some 2,100 homes and blackened 809 square miles from Los Angeles to the Mexican border last week. Seven deaths were blamed directly on the fires, six evacuees died of natural causes and one person died of a fall.
However, Reid's comments have sparked an investigation, another one, by the Democrats, who are wasting OUR time and MONEY and doing nothing but having hearings.
Select Committee to Examine Link Between Changing Climate, Frequency and Intensity of Wildfires
“A spark neglected makes a mighty fire.â€
--Robert Herrick
Following the devastating fires in Southern California, the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will hold a hearing examining the scientific link between a changing climate and the frequency and intensity of wildfires.
Witnesses will discuss the present effects of climate change on wildfires and contributing factors such as increased drought, changes in snowmelt patterns, changes in precipitation, and higher temperatures. In addition, mitigation and adaptation strategies will be discussed.
The frequency and intensity of wildfires have increased in recent decades throughout the Western United States. Last year, the Forest Service spent a record $2.5 billion fighting wildfires that burned a record 9.9 million acres (4 million hectares), compared to the ten-year average of 6 million acres. This year 8.7 million acres have burned thus far. The current fires burning in California are expected to cause over $1 billion in property damage alone and have already burned an area the size of Rhode Island. Mounting scientific evidence indicates that the growth in wildfires is linked to global warming and that this trend is likely to intensify in the coming decades.
Rather than look at a theory that isn't even proven, why don't we look at the links of causality between the growth in wildfires and the increase in preventing cutting of underbrush and cutting in forests. You know, the spotted owl nonsense and the like. There is a huge correlation between these items, but we can't talk about it because then Al Gore and the Enviro-Nazis won't give us funding and put us on TV. And what is this hearing going to do? Like the Turkey resolution, not a damned thing except waste time and money. Typical liberal problem solving. I could have sworn some people warned you all about this...oh yeah, it was Me, Matt, Rush, Sean, Laura, Tom B., and the SOB...sadly, you didn't listen. But don't fret. We can vote them out in 08.
