Boy playing with matches began fire in California

A boy playing with matches has confessed to starting a wildfire that destroyed 63 structures near Los Angeles, officials said. The unidentified youngster, believed to be a pre-teen, was questioned by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators on October 22, a day after the Buckweed fire started rampaging across 38,000 acres (15,000 hectares) in the Santa Clarita area, 50 km north of downtown Los Angeles.

The boy “admitted that he had been playing with matches” said sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore yesterday.

The Buckweed fire was one of about 24 conflagrations that ravaged sothern California last week.