A 10-year-old boy playing with matches and an aerosol can started a house fire Monday on Syracuse's West End that left his uncle injured and his grandfather in critical condition, police and fire investigators said.
The grandfather, John A. Berry, 77, of 324-326 Tennyson Ave., suffered smoke inhalation and was in critical but stable condition Monday night at University Hospital, police Sgt. Tom Connellan said. He later improved to serious condition, according to the hospital.
The boy's uncle, Samuel Ashford, 32, who lives with Berry, was less seriously injured, Connellan said. Ashford was also taken to University Hospital, but neither the hospital nor the police could provide information on his condition late Monday.
The boy was charged with fourth-degree arson, a felony. He was held Monday night at Hillbrook Detention Center and is to appear today in Family Court, Connellan said. He said the arson charge is the lowest-level felony. It is based on the commission of a reckless act, not necessarily an intentional one.
The boy lives in the downstairs apartment with his mother and older brother.
According to Connellan, the boy was home alone when he began playing with fire and a can of Lysol, trying to create a blowtorch effect. The flame lit the Christmas tree in the family's front living room. After trying to put the blaze out with a fire extinguisher, the boy ran upstairs to alert his uncle and grandfather. The boy then ran back downstairs and out the back door.
Berry and Ashford apparently could not get down the stairs because of the fire and smoke, he said.
Firefighters were dispatched after a neighbor called 911 at 3:58 p.m. When firefighters arrived four minutes later, the front of the house was engulfed.
"The whole front porch was throwing fire out the front," fire Chief John Cowin said.
Ashford was hanging out of a second-floor window, appearing dazed and with cut hands, Cowin said. Rescuers helped him down by ladder while other firefighters felt their way through the rest of the smoky second floor.
They found Berry unconscious on the floor of a back bedroom and carried him down the ladder.
The boy's brother arrived home from school minutes after the fire started, fire Investigator Ken Heffernan said. The boy's mother was at work.
Cowin said firefighters at first believed seven people were in the house. Thirty-seven firefighters and 16 trucks were sent to fight the blaze.
"We made a real blitz attack on it," he said.
Fire Lt. Dennis Krick said the first truck on the scene had to alter its route and go around the block, wasting about a minute, because of an illegally parked car on Tennyson Avenue.
"It wasn't a big delay, but it was still frustrating," he said.
Firefighters also had to deal with a frozen hydrant but quickly found others, Cowin said.
Neighbors filled the street in the 11-degree weather to witness the event. Hazel Glennon, of 328 Tennyson Ave., next door to the blaze, said she was inside when she heard "a great big boom and a crash." She ran outside and saw the house ablaze and the boys in front.
"I grabbed the two boys," she said. "The house was in flames big time."
