Cops: Teens started school fire with aerosol can

A pair of 14-year-old West Hempstead boys charged with starting a blaze that damaged an elementary school wanted to see what would happen if they tossed an aerosol can into the fire they set, police said Wednesday.

The teens found out: The can ruptured, a nearby annex to the George Washington Elementary School caught fire, sustaining more than $100,000 in damage, and they were arrested. Police charged the pair with felony arson. Because the boys are being charged as juveniles, their names won't be made public, said Det. Lt. Kevin Power, commanding officer of the arson and bomb investigation squad.

West Hempstead school district superintendent John Hogan - who suffered a heart attack at the scene of the fire - was still hospitalized Wednesday afternoon, said Mary Quinn, a district spokeswoman.

Police linked the teens to the fire Monday night with the help of residents outraged by the destruction. They aided police with tips, and arson investigators identified the boys and charged them on Tuesday night.

Power said the boys apparently set papers ablaze with a cigarette lighter on a concrete patio near vinyl-sided trailers that the school uses.

"They want to take an aerosol can and see what happens when they throw the aerosol can in the fire. Unfortunately, that action causes a much bigger fire," Power said.

The ruptured can likely triggered a fireball, and caused an explosion that neighbors heard, he said.

Power said investigators don't believe the boys intended to damage the school building.

The pair, who were released on Family Court appearance tickets, are due to answer the juvenile delinquency charges at the end of the month, Power said.

Peter Reinharz, a deputy county attorney, said the next step for the boys would be to meet with a special section of the local probation department that handles juvenile cases.

The department will decide whether the arson charge can be resolved with a mandatory referral to services like counseling and anger management, or whether the case will be referred to the county attorney's office to be prosecuted. The district attorney doesn't prosecute young people charged in the juvenile system.

Despite the destruction, school officials said that the school can open in September and house all students without increasing class sizes.