Teens and gasoline don't mix in Cheney home fire

By BECKY THOMAS

Staff Reporter

Sometimes teenagers just don't think things through.

That seems to be the case in any early morning March 28 fire in the 800 block of Moyer Street, when two teenage boys were pouring gasoline from various containers into a garbage bag.

“Apparently they were trying to transfer the gas from the garbage sack into a vehicle, because one of the teens' vehicles was out of gas,” Cheney Fire Lt. Ken Johnson said.

The boys were attempting this process in the basement of the home of one of the teens while his mother slept upstairs.

When the pilot light from the gas water heater ignited the gasoline fumes, the teens told firefighters that the air around them ignited and filled with smoke. They said they tried to put out the fire but were overwhelmed and ran upstairs to wake the mother.

The mother called 911 and they rescued several pets, but two cats died in the fire.

Johnson said seven vehicles and one ambulance responded to the fire, and there was flame damage on the first floor joists and rafters above the unfinished basement.

No arrests were made in the incident, Johnson said, because it was an accident with no criminal intent.

Becky Thomas can be reached at [email protected].