Anaheim : Toddler With Matches Starts Blaze in Home

A home was badly damaged Wednesday when a toddler set his mother’s bed ablaze as she was sleeping, fire officials said.

No one was injured in the blaze, which firefighters said began about 8 a.m. when the 2-year-old playing with matches lit his mother’s bedclothes.

Fire Investigator Mike Doty said Brenda Murray should “thank her lucky stars” she woke up soon after the fire was lit by her son, Danny. The bedroom was filled with flames and smoke, but Doty said Murray managed to jump from the bed unharmed.

Damage to the house at 707 S. Harbor St. totaled $60,000, and the living room, dining room and kitchen were gutted in the blaze, Doty said.

Murray said that her son is “fascinated with fire” and that she had to remove all knobs from the kitchen stove, Doty said.

Murray, who lived with her sister and her children, was apparently renting the house and had no insurance, Doty said. The families will probably stay in a hotel room provided by the Red Cross until they find other accommodations, he said.