SNAKE HUNT BECOMES COSTLY SAFETY LESSON : BOY MAKING AMENDS FOR STARTING BRUSH FIRE.Byline: Terry Kanakri Daily News Staff Writer A 12-year-old boy got an expensive fire safety lesson when he tried to smoke a snake out of its hole in the hills southwest of Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. . The youngster was out walking the hills near Azure azure /az·ure/ (azh´er) one of three metachromatic basic dyes (A, B, and C). az·ure n. Any of various dyes used in biological stains, especially for blood and nuclear staining. Hills Drive on Friday with a friend when he found a snake hole. The boy lit a stick, thinking he could drive the snake out the hole with smoke. ``He loves snakes Snake 1 n. pl. Snake or Snakes See Shoshone. snake n. 1. ,'' his brother, Kevin Sergey, 20, said Monday. ``He loves to play outside with any type of animals.'' What happened next was a 20-acre brush fire that charred the hills and spread dangerously close to homes, forcing residents to frantically fran·tic adj. 1. Highly excited with strong emotion or frustration; frenzied: frantic with worry. 2. protect their properties and animals. ``He felt really sorry,'' Sergey said. ``He went around to people and apologized to them. He was pretty scared, but he handled it pretty well. I have to give him some credit.'' After using about 65 firefighters to put out the blaze BLAZE - A single assignment language for parallel processing. ["The BLAZE Language: A Parallel Language for Scientific Programming", P. Mehrotra <mehrotra@csrd.uiuc.edu> et al, J Parallel Comp 5(3):339-361 (Nov 1987)]. , the Fire Department plans to bill the boy's family about $10,000. ``In situations where the fire was arson arson, at common law, the malicious and willful burning of the house of another. Originally, it was an offense against the security of habitation rather than against property rights. or anything else than accidental, the department makes a determination that it could have been prevented, and then they look at the possibility of recovering cost,'' said department spokesman Joe Luna. The fire started about 12:50 p.m. south of Azure Hills Drive near Coldbrook Place and came within 25 feet from some homes. No injuries were reported, but the steep terrain made it a challenge for firefighters. They were assisted by two water-dropping helicopters from the county Sheriff's Department. But nobody's nerves were rattled rat·tle 1 v. rat·tled, rat·tling, rat·tles v.intr. 1. a. To make or emit a quick succession of short percussive sounds. b. as much as the boy's, who is not identified because of his age. Sergey said his brother and his friend tried to put out the fire using their T-shirts, but when they realized their efforts were futile, his young brother called 911. Although the family's home insurance will pay much of the Fire Department's bill, Sergey said his father has made it clear that his brother will have to pay some of that money back through work and chores. ``He'll be paying for it for a while, that's for sure,'' Sergey said. |
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