A fire in an apartment Thursday evening on North Lindbergh Drive left one apartment heavily damaged.
A 14-year-old boy with a developmental disability unintentionally lit the fire in his bedroom while playing with a lighter, Bloomington Police Department Capt. Ryan Pedigo said.
The boy’s mother said she was downstairs cooking when she smelled something burning. She asked her son about the smell and could tell from his reaction something was wrong.
She went upstairs and saw flames in his room.
The fire did not spread to other apartments, Pedigo said. BPD and Bloomington Fire Department went to the building just after 7 p.m. and made sure all apartments in the building were evacuated.
BFD Sgt. Bryan Hutchinson said 20 firefighters were there for about one hour and 40 minutes. There was heavy damage to the second floor of the duplex, but the fire was confined to the room it started in.
Bloomington Housing Authority determined the apartment uninhabitable and put the mother and son in a hotel until further arrangements could be made, Pedigo said.
