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Polk County brush fire blamed on teen playing with matches

Posted at 9:15 AM, Apr 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-20 09:15:14-04

POLK COUNTY, Fla. -- The Polk County Sheriff's Office blames a brush fire this week on a teen who was playing with matches.

Fire crews say the 2-3 acre brush fire was burning near almost a dozen homes on Rio Grande Canyon Loop on Wednesday afternoon.

“When we pulled up there were three to four homes that needed to be protected immediately,” said Captain David Rusha. “We didn’t want to lose any homes, so we had to act quickly.”

Fireighters quickly got the flames under control and put out the flames before any homes were damaged.

The fire chief says law enforcement and the Florida Forest Service were called to investigate.