Girl, 13, Burned in Garage Blaze
A 13-year-old girl received second-degree burns on her face, neck and hands after she accidentally set fire to her family’s garage here while playing with matches, Los Angeles County fire officials said.
The fire in the 23300 block of 8th Street started about 8 p.m. Friday when the girl, in an effort to avoid scorching her fingers, dropped a lit match she had been holding.
The match fell into a pan containing a solvent or some other chemical, causing a flash that burned the girl and set the crowded garage’s contents ablaze, said Robert Hazelton, a county firefighter. “It was purely accidental,” he said.
It took firefighters less than 20 minutes to extinguish the fire, which caused about $20,000 in damage to the garage and the roof of the house. The girl was taken by ambulance to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, but was soon transferred to an undisclosed medical facility for treatment, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
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