A local boy was badly burned from playing with fire Saturday afternoon, according to the Santa Barbara Fire Department.
Around 12:30 p.m., three juvenile boys, all reportedly 13 or 14, were in a backyard in the 700 block of California Street and at least one of them was playing with fire, fire inspector Ryan DiGuilio said.
That boy caught fire himself and was badly burned. He was in critical condition at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital as of late Saturday afternoon.
The mother of the boy who lived at the residence heard something in the backyard, saw what was going on and called 9-1-1, fire officials said.
“This is a reminder that fire’s very volatile and has a mind of its own,” DiGuilio said. “It can get out of control extremely quickly and overwhelm you extremely quickly.”
— Noozhawk news editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.