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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

House Fire Blamed On Neighbor, 5, Playing With Lighter Woman Going To Church Spots Blaze, Gets Boy Out, Tries To Douse Flames

A 5-year-old boy accidentally set a neighbor’s house on fire Saturday while playing with a lighter near a sofa, according to a Coeur d’Alene Police report.

No one was injured in the blaze that gutted the living room of a house at 717 Wallace. Coeur d’Alene Fire Chief Frank Sexton said the damage is estimated at more than $100,000.

Anna S. Carchia was walking to St. Thomas Church when she spotted the blaze at Edward Worthley’s home about 2:50 p.m.

“I wasn’t even sure it was for real,” she said.

Carchia ran to the house, opened the front door and found the young boy staring at the burning living room sofa.

“He was just standing there looking at the flames on the couch,” Carchia said. “He looked terrified.”

Carchia yelled at the boy to get out of the house and then tried to put the fire out with a towel.

“It got too hot and too big,” she said. “It was very, very scary. I never witnessed anything like this.”

The boy ran home, and Carchia fled from the burning building.

Sexton said firefighters extinguished the blaze about 4:45 p.m.

He said the Worthley family was not home when the fire started. According to a police report, the 5-year-old boy wandered into the house and started playing with a cigarette lighter when the fire started.

, DataTimes