Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
15 displaced after fire at apartment complex
Boy, 7, was playing with lighter, authorities say
A 7-year-old boy who was playing with a lighter started a fire at a Lauderhill apartment complex that left 15 people displaced, according to fire officials.
The fire broke out shortly before 9 p.m. Monday at 5234 NW 19th St.
No injuries were reported, but the fire did substantial damage to the unit where it started. Other units also were affected, leaving 15 people without a place to stay, according to Jeff Levy, assistant Lauderhill fire chief.
“We started questioning the child, rightfully, he was nervous and upset. Finally he admitted to the fire investigators that he was playing with a lighter. He was curious and lit some plastic on fire,” Levy said.
The boy went to the kitchen for a pot with water in a failed effort to put the fire out himself and when firefighters arrived, Levy said, the room was consumed by flames.
The American Red Cross was at the
The family’s most immediate problem was finding a place to stay.
scene and provided assistance to those who needed help with provisions and temporary housing.
Early Tuesday, the extended family of nine from Haiti that had been staying in the apartment returned to the burned unit in hopes of retrieving some of their belongings.
One of the adult family members, Larose Nozier, said he isn’t angry at the boy because he’s so young. “He’s a kid. He didn’t know exactly what to do,” Nozier said.
The soft-spoken 7-year-old, his head half-swaddled by a Red Cross blanket, was surrounded by news crews curious to know what he would tell his friends should they come across matches or a lighter.
“I would tell them to put it back where it was,” he said.
The family’s most immediate problem was finding a place to stay. “I don’t know where I can find to live now,” Nozier said.
The boy and some of his family members are being referred to a county juvenile firesetter program, officials said.
The Broward Sheriff ’s Office administers a Juvenile Firesetter Prevention and Intervention Program geared to children ages 2 to 17 with an interest in or history of starting fires. It’s meant to “focus on fire safety in the home and strategies for preventing and reacting to home fires,” according to the program’s online description.