No, that was torture to get the guy to enter a plea. He refused and was eventually crushed.
No thanks. Crushed velvet drapes are a bitch to clean.
This article, the first one I’ve seen with any description of his age, describes him as “younger than 13”.
I think requiring a spoken or written apology to all the people who lost their homes would probably be appropriate, at a minimum.
Kind of odd that this came right after:
When Liberal hasn’t really been a kid in anything that could be called “today”. My 75+ year old physics teacher a few years ago told us all about how he and his pals cooked up nitroglycerin at home, took it out to an empty field (in San Diego, actually) and accidentally blew up a shed with it, claiming ignorance later as to what happened. I think the only difference between kids today and kids of any other era is that these things aren’t written off as “just a little kid dicking around, like kids do” anymore.
The boy wasn’t the cause of the fire. The cause was exceptionally dry conditions combined with sustained winds. Something would have started it eventually and if it took a year or two more then it would have been that much worse. I accidentally started a forest fire when I was twelve by leaving a camp fire unattended. It was on our land and it burned a few acres of woods and brush. I helped the fire crews fight the fire until I collapsed into exhaustion and they carried me into the house to lay in a cool bath. I felt terrible but it really was an accident and I didn’t get in trouble.
My father and his best friend derailed a train when they were young (like 8). They put bigger and bigger things on the tracks over time to see how they would get smashed. Finally, a few large rocks refused to give up and the train flipped on its side taking out parts of buildings. They had enough sense not to say anything until years later. I can see getting in trouble for something like that but not a forest fire accident.
I kind of like the idea of some volunteer work. I don’t think he should be dragged into the burn wing, or sent out with the firetrucks, but he could volunteer with the Fire Department if he was old enough. I mean it’d teach him a bunch of stuff - how good vol work feels, what firefighters do, how hard their job is, how fast fire can burn things, how dangerous fire is…and it might make him feel a little better about himself.
Punishment is just a bit much and won’t help the kid.
:eek: Duuuuuuuude.
Wait a minute – they’re doing those as punishment!? Crap! I thought they really cared! I am so disillustioned with Hollywood right now!
What do you want to bet that he, and his parents, will be subjected to tons of lawsuits over the next few years? Just because he can’t be legally held responsible doesn’t mean that the victims of the fires (and their lawyers) won’t descend on him like clouds of locusts.
How was it an accident if you left it unattended? I realize that the forest fire was not purposeful, but it was a direct result of your negligence, and certainly under your control.
Second the :eek: on the train derailment, with the added comment that refusing to own up to property damage is not universally acknowledged as demonstrating “good sense.” Why does it seem that way to you?
I acknowledge that not owning up to property damage like that could be considered immoral. However, morality and good sense don’t always march in lockstep. If I were the boy in question and had a chance to hide the facts, you can bet every dollar to your name that I would do so. The cons for admitting it are just too great to offset any virtue points you might gain. You know those cartoons with an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other? This is the time when you should bitch-slap the angel off and give the devil a high-5.
As for my forest fire, I thought it was out. I peed on it and everything but it usually takes more than that for a fire that has been going for a while I learned. I don’t think I learned my lesson on that one though. I am the bane of my local fire department here in suburban/rural Massachusetts. I usually just roll my eyes when they show up with the trucks. I have land to clear and a limited season each year to do it. However, I scared myself shitless about 18 months ago. I lit a corner of our property to clear out a huge bed of leaves surrounded by stone walls. Shortly after I lit it, I realized that it was going up way faster than I expected and that the other side of the stone wall was the beginning of hundreds of acres of very dry conservation land with a nice wind blowing through it. Luckilly, we had some guys painting our house that day and my screams brought them over. I got out all the tools I could find in the shed but it took us about an hour to get it under control.
I think I learned my lesson with that one but I shudder to think what would have happened if the fire jumped the wall faster than we could contain it. I suppose I would have had to admit to that one but it goes to show that these things can happen quickly given the right conditions.
Well, you might not gain anything by admitting it, but the others gains something, which is knowing exactly what happened and then how to help prevent it in the future (for example, going to local elementary schools and talking about the dangers of playing with matches, playing Let’s Squash It! on active train tracks, etc). You also prevent someone else from being blamed unnecessarily, and save taxpayers the cost of further investigations.
As a child I went through a short-live phase of pyromania (nothing bad came out of it though), so I feel sorry for the little kid. I could see myself doing something stupid like that and being eaten alive by my conscience.
But I’m wondering if the authorities are even sure he was to blame. Weren’t they claiming there was evidence of arson? If so, that doesn’t go along with the claims that a kid accidentally set this off. Hopefully no one is jumping to conclusions based on a little kid’s confession.
I just have a hard time with “avoiding responsibility” equaling “good sense.”
I take back what I implied about it being your fault. You said that you left a fire untended, so I thought you had walked away from a burning fire, whereas you thought you had put it out.
As to the OP, if kids were playing with matches in the woods in CA during fire season, then someone fucked up somewhere. Their parents, if no one else.
Me, too, which is why I mentioned professional help to deal with the ramifications of what his actions caused. I’d be haunted. I hope his family is taking care of his mental health.
Not this particular fire, no. They originally thought it started from a downed power line. Then they determined the location where it originated was this boy’s back yard, and questioned the boy’s family. [
](http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-California-Wildfires.html)
There were many different fires burning at the same time in several different counties. A couple of them seem to have been set by arsonists, yes.
In California civil code section deals with willful misconduct of a minor
1714.1. (a) Any act of willful misconduct of a minor which results in injury . . . to the property of another shall be imputed to the parent or guardian having custody and control of the minor for all purposes of civil damages, and the parent or guardian having custody and control shall be jointly and severally liable with the minor for any damages resulting from the willful misconduct. Subject to the provisions of subdivision (c), the joint and several liability of the parent or guardian having custody and control of a minor under this subdivision shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each tort of the minor . . . . ."
Note this is only for willful misconduct, not just a kids will be kids situation. I don’t know how they would assign torts either. Would the entire fire be one tort, or would each destroyed house be a tort?
Also as the child comes under the definition of an insured under the parents homeowners policy, The insurance company will be paying out the liability policy limits.
So the parents are not necessarily off scot free.
No, they’re window treatments. 
:dubious: Is there any evidence of such accident? Sounds like a tall story.