A 9-year-old boy accused of setting fire to a silk plant display inside a Home Depot west of Lantana, causing evacuation of the store, was arrested Tuesday and charged with arson, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said.
"It could have been a real disaster," sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller said. "Luckily, employees reacted very quickly using multiple extinguishers."
The boy, a student at Indian Pines Elementary School west of Lake Worth, used a lighter reportedly stolen from a nearby dollar store, Miller said.
Witnesses saw two boys running from the area near the garden section inside the store at 5750 Jog Road immediately after the fire and then reported that the boys watched the fire, Miller said.
Home Depot security employees found the boys at a nearby shoe store and escorted them back to Home Depot. The 9-year-old tried to ditch the lighter in some shrubs, Miller said.
The store was closed for two hours and 15 minutes after the 10 a.m. fire. Though the damage was estimated at about $2,000, the loss of revenue and clean-up costs probably will hit $30,000, Miller said.
There was considerable smoke damage that forced the evacuation of the store, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Capt. Don DeLucia said.
The boy was charged with arson of an occupied business, a felony. He was taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center.
