Teenagers Admit Torching Cars, Garages Four Boys Face As Many As Nine Counts Of Felony Arson For East Spokane Fires

Four teenage boys are facing felony charges stemming from an east Spokane arson spree that damaged several cars and garages.

Three of the suspected arsonists - two 14-year-olds and a 13-year-old - were arrested Tuesday night. The fourth boy, also 14, was arrested Wednesday morning.

Each was booked into the juvenile detention center and may be charged with as many as nine counts of second-degree arson, said Capt. Ernie Nye, an investigator with the Spokane Fire Department.

They admitted torching four cars Tuesday night and three garages and another car Monday, Nye said.

Most of the fires were set in the area between the 1800 and 2400 blocks of Sixth and Seventh avenues, Battalion Chief Ron Bassen said.

Witnesses said the boys turned aerosol cans into makeshift blow torches by igniting the flammable spray. They used the torches to start some of the blazes.

“What they were doing was dangerous - not only for the property they were attacking, but for themselves,” Nye said. Many aerosol cans will explode when exposed to flame.

All the boys live in the neighborhood where the fires occurred, Nye said.

No one was hurt in the fires, but most of the cars were heavily damaged and one garage was destroyed. Damages will exceed $11,000, fire officials said.

Resident Grover Wood lost his garage Monday night. The building was full of construction materials Wood planned to use to remodel his house on Sixth.

He now has to put those plans on hold while he tears down the burned-out garage and replaces the materials.

“It’s a mess,” he said.

Wood said the boys and their parents should pay for the damage they caused.

“They should take responsibility,” he said. “You broke it, you fix it. And I’d make them or their folks pay for it. That stuff starts at home, you know.”

Tipped off by people who saw the boys start some of the fires, Nye and fellow investigator Michael Zambryski arrested the trio near an alley in the 600 block of South Stone about 7:30 p.m. - just minutes after the last of Tuesday’s car fires was reported two blocks away.

The boys smelled like gasoline, and one of them had paint on his hands, Nye said. Witnesses reported seeing the boys spray-painting graffiti on some of the cars and garages before they were torched.

“One of the kids tried to throw some matches away when we pulled up,” Nye said. “He ditched some matches under my car, and a cigarette lighter. They don’t have any explanation for what they did, at least no reason they would give us.”

, DataTimes