A single mother and her four children are displaced for now after one of her kids started a fire inside their home on Thursday morning.
The Waco Fire Department responded to the fire in the 3300 block of Fadal Avenue around 9 a.m.
According to firefighters, the child used a lighter to set the fire inside the closet. Julia Mahan, said her son locked the room before notifying her about the flames, which made it hard for her to access it.
“Out of nowhere, he runs in the room and he is telling me “mama fire.” I just took off running from room to room figuring out where it was coming from," Mahan said.
While Mahan was trying to access the bedroom, she called 911 for assistance.
“You can see the smoke coming from the door frame, seeping through the cracks of the door," Mahan said.
In the meantime, she broke the window of the bedroom and used the extinguisher before the firefighters arrived.
Firefighters had to force entry into the room to put out the fire, that was contained to one room. No one was injured during the fire.
“I never thought that my kids would catch a fire and it happened. We lost our house because of it," Mahan said.
The mother of four said the lighter was not at his reach.
“I even have to take my knobs off because I have gas and he likes to mess with the knob. It doesn’t matter where I put it, he finds everything," Mahan said.
Waco Fire Department Lt. Keith Guillory said it's not uncommon for children to be intrigued by fire.
"Sometimes it's curiosity. Over time, they become fascinated with playing with fire,"Guillory said.
Now, the boy will enroll with his siblings in the Youth Firesetter Program at the Waco Fire Department, which teaches children about the dangers of playing with fire.
“Sometimes it’s as simple as going through general fire safety with the family and the youth. Sometimes we can take it a little further and do more of an evaluation to see if they need mental health treatment or even possibly go through the juvenile justice system," Guillory said.
If your children are becoming interested in playing with matches or lighters, you can contact the fire department at 254-750-1740 to enroll them in the program.
The fire department also has another initiative that allows them to do a follow up with the children enrolled in the initial program at school.
The American Red Cross is providing the family help for a place to stay for 72 hours. If you would like to help the family, you can call 254-624-7090.
According to FEMA, over 1,800 civilian fire fatalities were reported between Jan. 1, 2018 and Oct. 4, 2018.
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