A bedroom in a Barrow County home was destroyed when a 4-year-old playing with a lighter accidentally set it on fire.
Barrow County emergency officials got the call about a house on fire in the 1500 block of Willow Gate Way in Auburn about 11 a.m. on Feb. 25, spokesman Steve Rose said.
When they arrived, an adult and two children who lived there were standing outside while smoke and flames vented out of the upstairs bedroom window, authorities said.
The adult who lived there told officials that everyone had made it out of the house and no one was injured.
A fire crew then went inside to begin putting out the fire.
“During the firefighting operations, the floor of the bedroom collapsed into the kitchen below,” Rose said. No firefighters were injured in the collapse, he said.
Rose said investigators found evidence that suggested the fire started when a 4-year-old was in bed playing with a lighter.
“Mattresses burn very quickly and produce toxic smoke the second they start burning,” Rose said. “Since two small children were in the bedroom at the time the fire started, this could have been a tragic story.”
Authorities said there was moderate smoke and water damage to the home, but the bedroom where the fire started was completely destroyed.
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