Children Playing With Matches Set Off Fire
Children playing with matches sparked a small fire in an Altadena kindergarten classroom Tuesday, forcing a brief evacuation of the elementary school and causing some damage but no injuries, authorities said.
A teacher noticed the fire about 8:45 a.m. in some wooden lockers at the rear of the classroom at Benjamin Franklin School at 527 W. Ventura St., County Fire Capt. Greg Lee said.
All 32 kindergarten students were hustled from the classroom and school officials evacuated the rest of the students. Firefighters took about 14 minutes to put out the flames, which caused about $15,000 damage to the kindergarten classroom and one next door and $5,000 to their contents, Lee said.
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