Charges Sought for Kids Using Fireworks

Orange County and Anaheim fire officials said Wednesday they plan to ask prosecutors to file criminal charges against juveniles they say are responsible for fire damage related to illegal fireworks and demand that their parents pay the cost of fighting the blazes.

Although physical damage from the holiday fireworks fires was small, Orange County and Anaheim fire authorities said they are pursuing the prosecutions as a deterrent to juveniles who illegally use fireworks. Fireworks are legal in only five cities in the county.

The Orange County Fire Authority’s investigation of Tuesday’s brush fire in Coto de Caza will be forwarded to the district attorney today with a recommendation that the boys held in connection with the blaze--ages 13, 14 and 16--be prosecuted on felony counts of unlawfully and recklessly causing the fire, authority spokesman Scott Brown said.

The youths are charged with igniting a brush fire, which burned about three acres. According to Brown, the boys were setting off illegal bottle rockets in a dry field.

Brown said the boys’ parents will be billed for the cost of fighting the Coto de Caza fire, and the price tag is expected to be substantial. Brown said the department used a helicopter, seven engine companies, a bulldozer, a paramedic unit and other support personnel to quell the fire in about 30 minutes.

“We’re still tabulating the cost, but the parents are ultimately responsible for the careless acts of their children,” Brown said. “We don’t view this as an overreaction on our part. Rather, it’s an appropriate response for a very careless act.”

In Anaheim, officials attributed four fires to illegal fireworks, three of which were set by juveniles, spokeswoman Robyn Butler said. Investigators have confessions or suspects in each case, she said.

“We’re still in the middle of our investigations, but we’re going to pursue prosecutions and cost recovery for the fires,” Butler said. “Parents and their children have to get the message that fireworks are illegal and dangerous. The message isn’t new.”

Damage to the roofs and attics of the apartment buildings damaged in three fires Sunday, Monday and Tuesday totaled $126,000, officials said.

A fourth fire Sunday in Anaheim Hills burned about one-eighth of an acre of brush and was put out by the family of the 13-year-old boy who started it, Butler said.

The boy and his family admitted he started the fire, Butler said, but it was their unapologetic nature that struck firefighters.

“Frankly, they didn’t have a lot of remorse,” she said. “Their whole attitude was lackadaisical, which really upset us. . . . They were told they would be billed for our response. The boy was ordered to write an essay on fire safety and his entire family was put on fire watch [of the hillside] for the rest of the night.”

Anaheim fire officials dispatched a helicopter and five engines, even though the boy’s family had put out most of the fire using shovels by the time firefighters arrived.

Orange County Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Fell said he prosecuted two felony juvenile cases resulting from the criminal use of fireworks in the four years he was in the arson unit. In 1996, two 16-year-old girls were incarcerated after they were convicted of causing a Garden Grove fire that burned 37 apartment units, causing $1.5 million in damage.