Boy, 14, arrested after duplex fire linked to bottle rockets

Spokane police arrested a 14-year-old after his use of bottle rockets caused a duplex fire Saturday morning, officers said.

The fire was reported around 7:30 a.m. on the 2400 block of East Desmet Ave.

Firefighters with the Spokane Fire Department said someone reported seeing heavy black smoke and hearing a cry for help. 

When they got to the scene, firefighters said a large fire had burned most of one side of the building and was starting to get inside. In addition, firefighters said heat radiating from the blaze was starting to melt the siding on the other unit of the duplex. 

Meanwhile, witnesses told firefighters they had heard what sounded like fireworks, and investigators confirmed that fireworks were consistent with that type of fire, police said.

After that, officers found fragments of bottle rockets lying around and a 14-year-old who had another bottle rocket in his pocket, officers said. 

The boy tried to run away, police said, but officers ended up arresting him on suspicion of first-degree reckless burning, as well as resisting arrest. 

It took 22 firefighters an hour to get the blaze under control, and a family of six is now displaced, the fire department said in a news release. The family includes four children, firefighters said. 

No one was injured.