14-year old 'Israeli Arab' admits starting Carmel forest fire outside Haifa
A 14-year old 'Israeli Arab' from the village of Usfiya has been arrested after confessing to starting the Carmel forest fire outside of Haifa. A 14-year-old resident of Usfiya was arrested on Monday on suspicion of hurling a charcoal from a water-pipe into a forest clearing near Usfiya on Thursday morning, witnessing the ignition of a large fire, and fleeing the scene. Police suspect the boy's actions directly led to the Carmel forest inferno.Arson or 'criminal negligence'?
The youth confessed to the suspicions against him and reenacted his alleged actions on Monday, police added.
After witnessing the flames grow out of control, the youth became panicked, "ran back to his school [in Usfiya], and did not report the fire to anyone," police said.
The youth will appear before the Haifa Magistrate's Court on Tuesday morning for a remand hearing.
Hof police spokesman Mor Inbar told The Jerusalem Post that four additional Usfiya youths were questioned in recent days in connection with the water-pipe incident.
They included two brothers aged 16 and 14 who were arrested on Sunday, and who were released by the Haifa District Court on Monday after Judge Avraham Elikim accepted an appeal by attorneys representing the brothers against a decision by the Haifa Magistrate's Court to keep them in custody until Wednesday.
Judge Elikim noted that police suspect the minors of causing death through criminal negligence, but added that the suspects' young age represented an alleviating factor in the suspicions against them. "There is no disputing the trauma caused by the fires to many people, but we should not place a national disaster on the shoulders of two minors," Judge Elikim said during his decision on Monday.
Two additional minors were detained for questioning - though not arrested - by officers from the Hof police sub-district's central unit on Monday and released, before the 14-year-old suspect was arrested.
Meanwhile, Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a total of four suspects around the country have been arrested in recent days on suspicion of deliberately setting off smaller fires. Two suspects were arrested in the Jerusalem area and two more were arrested in Acre on suspicion of arson attacks.
Labels: arson, Carmel forest, forest fire, Haifa, Usfiya
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:08 PM
2 Comments:
More questions... most 14 yr olds who are ditching don't go out (was it in the woods?) and light a charcoal fire (did he have lighter fluid or was it did he buy a bag of the ready-light kind?), then sit there while it gets going, then use a pipe (?) to throw the charcoal? How did he think to do that? Is it a taught/learned method? Or did he think it up himself?
What a dolt I am. I was thinking charcoal like for a backyard barbecue. And a "water pipe", like maybe a pvc sprinkler line or something. When in fact, Ynet says we're talking about a bong (or "hookah" as they call it)... They must have smoked up a storm to come up with enough "charcoal" to start that fire. I'd like to see that hookah.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3995244,00.html
Boy, I just can't wait until we legalize pot in the U.S., because then we'll have people smoking Hookahs and even little pocket pipes everywhere and then being too blotto to notice the fire that started when they dumped out the bowl.
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