Be Fire Wise!

Sedona AZ (May 6, 2015) – On Sunday, May 3, 2015, at about 2:20 in the afternoon, Coconino County Arizona Emergency dispatchers received multiple reports of suspicious smoke from motorists traveling on Arizona Interstate 17. A CCSO deputy was sent to investigate the area north of Tovar Trail in Kachina Village, a Flagstaff community. The deputy arrived to find the U.S. Forest Service and the Highlands Fire Department in the process of suppressing a wild fire estimated to be 150 square feet in size.

The wild land fire had advanced in a northerly direction, with a burnt structure that appeared to be a child’s fort at its southernmost point. The deputy recalled investigating a 2014 similar incident at the same location which resulted in the arrest of two thirteen year old boys.

The CCSO deputy drove to the residence of one of the two boys arrested as the result of the 2014 fire, but was unable to find the teen there. Driving on Tovar Trail, he observed two boys riding bicycles in the middle of the street in the opposite direction of the fire. He made contact with the two, one of which had been involved with the 2014 fire. The second boy admitted to being in the area when this fire started, and identified a second suspect who was not present. The second subject lived in the City of Flagstaff and a Flagstaff AZ police officer was asked to contact and interview the boy.

As the result of statements made by the two suspects and items of evidence discovered and collected by the CCSO deputy, one 13 year old boy was arrested on charges of Reckless Burning and Disorderly Conduct and booked into the Coconino County Juvenile Detention Facility; the other thirteen year old boy was referred to Juvenile Court for the same charges.

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