A 5-year-old playing with a cigarette lighter caused a Fort Collins fire that burned two trailer homes, firefighters said.
The incident happened about 10:50 a.m. Saturday at the Terry Lake Mobile Home Park, 437 N. Highway 287, according to a Poudre Fire Authority media release.
The young girl was lighting paper on fire with a cigarette lighter in her bedroom while her mother slept in another room, the fire department said. The girl awakened her mother, warning that the fire had spread out of control.
The mother, daughter and a 3-year-old boy escaped unharmed.
Children start at least 50 percent of the intentionally set fires in the United States, according to the release.
The Poudre Fire Authority offers a Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Program with information on its website at .
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
