Missouri Girl Accidentally Sets Fire to Bedroom, Flees House

A 9-year-old girl accidentally set fire to her bedroom Monday morning, then grabbed her puppy and fled outside after calling 911.

Assistant Fire Chief Curt Sevage said the girl's mother had walked to work, leaving the girl at the two-bedroom house in the 900 block of South Northern Boulevard to wait for her school bus. The child lit a candle in her room, and then went to the kitchen for cereal. When she returned to the bedroom, she saw the sheets on fire.

The bus arrived around 9 a.m., just after the fire began. The driver waited with the girl until firefighters arrived, Sevage said.

Damage was estimated at $20,000 to $25,000 to the house and $10,000 to the contents.