A 13-year-old girl is being referred to Lewis County Juvenile Court for second-degree arson for allegedly lighting a firework in tall grass in the 1200 block of Harrison Avenue, starting a brush fire, just before 6:20 p.m. on July 5.
The firework lit the grass on fire and burned part of a tree, according to the Centralia Police Department. No injuries were reported. The Riverside Fire Authority responded to the scene and quickly extinguished the fire on Wednesday. The juvenile was released to a parent at the scene, according to the Centralia Police Department.
The juvenile’s identity has not been released by law enforcement as juvenile court cases are protected under state law.
Much of the Pacific Cascades region, which includes Lewis County, was under a red flag warning due to hot and dry conditions until 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Weather forecasts show hot temperatures continuing into next week with a slight chance for rain over the weekend.
Fireworks were the cause of six fires in the region the weekend leading up to the Fourth of July, according to the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
“Thankfully, these were relatively small fires that were contained quickly. However, every ignition pulls our firefighting resources away from potentially larger wildfires on the landscape,” DNR stated in a Twitter post on July 3 commenting on the fires and encouraging Washington residents to practice fireworks safety.
The following day, the City of Mossyrock canceled its annual Fourth of July fireworks show and banned all fireworks within city limits due to the extremely dry conditions in the area.
To get updates from the DNR concerning wildfires, visit https://twitter.com/waDNR_fire.
