I was a kid (pre-teen at the oldest) who once with someone who threw lit matches into the woods/park near my house. I don't know why we did it, maybe it was bad influence or just I was a hellion at that point in my life (I was, didn't know Jesus at that point in my life). Me and another kid who lived on my street went walking through the woods/park flipping matches off of a matchbook. It was great fun, until it wasn't. The wind kicked up and we just couldn't stomp out the fire this time.
Thankfully the response time of the fire department was really fast and home owners that backed up to the woods came out and helped with shovels and rakes. We split by then since it was beyond us.
A few days later the fire marshal knocked on my door and asked my mom (who answered the door) if she recognized and item he was holding. Yeah, I left something at the scene.
I don't know what happened to the other kid. My mom and his parents banned us from seeing each other again. He was the one who threw
that match so the bulk of the "charges" fell to him. I got community service of sorts, though mine was voluntary and I didn't end up with criminal charges out of it. It was rough work. My mom was not merciful in the least and made sure the "boss" wasn't nice either. I learned my lesson.
In the end it was just some leaves on the ground burned and contained. I think the county fire department billed the other kid's family for their services since it was arson.
I became a fireman later in life, though it wasn't because of this. Kinda wild how I had to "repay" my debt for my involvement in that.
