Youths Blamed for Dozens of Grass Fires

The four boys believed to be responsible for a fire here that left over 2,100 acres burned and two homes destroyed in its wake are among a growing list of juveniles who are being blamed for dozens of blazes in the Antelope Valley.

Since June 1, at least 34 youths have been detained or arrested in north Los Angeles County for arson, including the four juveniles--ages 8 through 10--booked in Wednesday’s fire, the largest in the region in years. Since the beginning of the year, 56 youths have been arrested or detained here.

Five Antelope Valley houses have been destroyed or damaged this year in grass fires started by children, said Battalion Chief Michael Balzano of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Antelope Valley leads the county so far this season in the number of arson fires--48 arson fires in the last six weeks alone. And authorities say that while children are setting many of the blazes, they are not gang-related and most of the children are one-time offenders.

Arson investigators say that although the fires set by children can sometimes be devastating, such as the one Wednesday that caused more than $400,000 in damage, they are often started without malicious intent. Children playing with matches or experimenting with cigarette smoking do so without realizing the potentially explosive consequences.

“Boys will be boys,” said Deputy Dan Watters, a Palmdale-based investigator with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arson/explosives detail. “What are you going to do? We just have a real problem here.”

Nationally, 40% of grass and brush arson fires are started by juveniles, said Capt. Steve Valenzuela, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

No one has a clear answer for why in the last six weeks the Antelope Valley seems to be exceeding that average.

One thing that investigators are fairly sure of is that a rash of arson fires over the last few years in the Antelope Acres area of the valley are not being started by juveniles.

Valenzuela said a lot of factors have come together in the Antelope Valley at a potentially lethal time: The youths are on summer break from school, the hot weather has dried the abundant grasses that grew after the winter rains, and the high desert’s characteristic winds spread fire quickly.

Balzano said the greatest factor is the enormous amount of dried grasses or fuel in the desert.

“This is probably the worst crop we’ve had out here in years,” he said. In Lancaster, for example, just four acres of brush burned in June, 1992. This June, more than 550 acres burned.

“There’s no brush in any other part of the county,” quipped Sgt. Gary Everson, operations sergeant for the Sheriff’s Department arson/explosives detail.

It is that tremendous amount of fuel in the Antelope Valley that have authorities worried about what will happen when the temperatures rise in the coming months.

“It happens to be the worst fire season we’ve ever had,” said Valenzuela. “We’re not really into (the peak of the) fire season and that scares me.”

This year’s fire season, which started May 10, was 10 days earlier than last year’s. The season typically does not end until late November or early December, he said.

“We have to get at least a couple inches of rain . . . before we even consider ending the fire season,” Valenzuela said.

In 1992 there were 1,740 brush and grass fires in the unincorporated communities and 50 cities within Los Angeles County covered by the county Fire Department, he said. Just 2,569 acres were burned in those fires. The biggest single brush fire burned 100 acres.

The Wednesday fire caused by four youths smoking cigarettes comes on top of an already busy fire season.

Between April 1 and July 14, there were 1,382 grass and brush fires, including 413 in the Antelope Valley, within the county Fire Department’s jurisdiction.

In the first two weeks of this month, the Fire Department responded to 147 grass fires in the Antelope Valley, Valenzuela said. In the entire month of June, there were 177 grass fires reported.

“The trend is picking up,” he said.