ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST — Authorities Wednesday sought to charge a 13-year-old boy with starting the Morris Fire last month, which scorched more than 2,000 acres of forest north of Azusa.
Investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Arson/Explosives Detail filed a petition seeking a charge against the young suspect, Detective Tim Wainscott said. The teen’s city of residency was not available.
“What we filed this morning was recklessly causing a fire,” the detective said.
The prosecutor will have the discretion to look at the facts of the case and decide whether an arson charge is appropriate, he added. Both crimes are felonies.
The court was closed Wednesday and no formal charges were filed, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Jane Robison said. That will likely take place Thursday.
The suspect was not in custody, officials added.
The teenage suspect is not suspected of being responsible for the 3-week-old Station Fire, which officials said has scorched more than 160,000 acres in the Angeles National Forest and was 91 percent contained Wednesday.
Though the fires ignited one day apart and both have been ruled to be arson, Wainscott said there is no connection.
“This is absolutely not connected to the Station Fire in any way, shape or form,” he said.
The Morris Fire started near the Morris Dam on Aug. 25 and grew to 2,168 acres before firefighters achieved full containment of the blaze on Sept. 3. At it’s height, more than 1,600 firefighters battled the Morris Fire.
Wainscott said the teenage suspect was spotted in the area around the time the fire started, which was about 2:30 p.m.
Investigators interviewed him the day the fire first ignited, Wainscott said, and had considered him a “person of interest” in the fire ever since.
The detective declined to discuss how specifically authorities believe the fire started, deferring all questions to the District Attorney’s office.
The prosecutor handling the case could not be reached for comment Wednesday, and Robison said no further information was available.