Three Students Accused of Starting Blaze at Woodburn High School

Three students accused of starting a four-alarm fire that heavily damaged Woodburn High School last week used a lighter to ignite puddles of ethyl alcohol-based hand sanitizer on a desktop, court documents show.

When one of them added more sanitizer to the blaze, increasing the flames, the boys fueled the fire by trying to put it out with paper towels.

One of the boys, Jose Campuzano, told Woodburn police he cleared the desk of the burning paper towels, and the others "flung" the flaming paper towels into a closet where they fell onto cardboard boxes, igniting them, also.

Miguel Rodriguez, who said he was also present when the fire started, told police he felt it was a teacher's fault the fire started.

"I don't know why the teacher didn't see me," he said. "She wasn't doing her job."

Officials at the school said a janitor tried to help put out the fire with an extinguisher, but the fire by then had grown too large. The fire heavily damaged the school's north side, and shut the school all this week. At least 12 fire departments from surrounding communities fought to stop the fire from completely destroying the school.

Seniors will return to classes next Monday, district officials said, and a decision will be made on May 23 on plans for grades 9-11, according the school district's website.

A student interviewed by police said he saw Rodriguez and Campuzano in the days before the fire "messing around with hand sanitizer and a lighter" and on Friday saw Campuzano ignite a puddle of hand sanitizer on a desktop.

Campuzano, Garcia and Diego Alexis Rodriguez Alvarez, all 15, -- were all arraigned Monday in Marion County Juvenile Court on one count of first-degree arson and six counts of recklessly endangering another person.

First-degree arson is a Measure 11 crime, with a mandatory minimum sentence of 90 months -- 7 1/2 years -- in prison. All three of the boys' families posted 10 percent of their $50,000 bail and they were released from custody.

A YouTube video that has received more than 4 million hits, shows some unidentified students lighting a swirled pattern of hand sanitizer on desktop. It was posted in May 2007.

In addition to being highly flammable, hand sanitizers have become increasingly popular with teens who remove the ethyl alcohol and drink it, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, or drink the 120 proof liquid straight.

Last year, the center reported 622 calls to poison centers in the U.S. reporting teens who suffered alcohol poisoning from drinking alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and more than 200 already this year.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service