10-Year Old Boy Charged in Tennessee Plastics Company Fire

Chattanooga fire investigators arrested a 10-year-old boy in a plastics company fire with damages expected to exceed $1 million.

Fire Capt. Leslie Morgan said in a statement that eyewitness accounts and other evidence led them to make the arrest in the Sunday fire at River City Plastics.

The statement said the boy told investigators he was playing with a lighter and set some materials on fire behind the building. The boy said he tried to stomp the blaze out, but when the fire got larger, he ran.

The boy was taken to a juvenile detention center and is charged with setting fire to personal property and reckless endangerment. Another juvenile was present but was not charged.

Fire officials said the damage is expected to exceed $1 million.