Young Boys Blamed In Barn Fire

Neighbors along Fourth Avenue were not surprised this week to see flames shooting from the roof of an old wooden barn.

There have been a handful of small fires around the Spokane Valley neighborhood over the last several months. One boy has started most of them, neighbors and fire investigators said.

Tuesday night was no exception. Two school-aged boys playing with matches ignited a fire that destroyed the barn and scorched a workshop next to it. The owner estimated damage at $30,000.

“Ask any neighbor around here. That little red-headed kid is always playing with matches,” said Kevin Sutherland, who lives next door to the buildings victimized by Tuesday’s blaze. “It’s a wonder he didn’t burn something else.”

The red-headed boy and a friend, both 6, started Tuesday’s fire about 5:30 p.m., said Valley Fire inspector Kevin Miller.

Sutherland was outside cleaning up his yard when he saw flames shooting from the barn behind his neighbor’s house at 9521 E. Fourth.

“I hollered and two little kids came running out,” said Sutherland. Knee-high flames nipped at their heels.

Sutherland ran to his neighbor’s house and told them to call the fire department. By the time Sutherland ran back to the barn, flames engulfed it.

Both boys escaped unharmed. No one else was injured.

Inspector Miller said the red-headed boy is responsible for other small, neighborhood fires. Residents suspect the boy started fires last summer in the grassy field behind the barn and shop that burned Tuesday and in a van parked in the neighborhood.

The boy’s mother said her son was there when those fires started, but that her son did not start them.

Karl Crouch, who owns the barn and shop, knows both boys.

“I’ve caught them messing around down here before,” said Crouch, who rents the 40-by-50-foot shop to two electricians who use it for storage.

Pipes stored against a charred wall were blackened, but wiring and other supplies were not damaged.

Crouch talked to the boys’ parents after he chased them out of the barn several months ago. He thought the talk would solve the problem.

“As you can see, the situation wasn’t taken care of,” Crouch said.

Because of their age, the boys will not be charged.

However, Valley Fire will try to arrest the boys’ obsession with fire. Both have been enrolled in the department’s Junior Fire Starter Program.

“We’re hoping this will solve it,” Woodward said. “It scared him so bad I don’t think he will ever touch another match.”

The fire-starter program uses a videotape to teach children 10 and under who play with matches how quickly fire spreads.

Added assistant chief Karl Bold: “With kids that age, all we try to do is counsel them.”

, DataTimes