Boys, 9, suspected of torching local truck

The Daily Inter Lake

Investigators suspect that two 9-year-old boys set fire to a tractor-trailer parked outside a Columbia Falls home.

The boys piled paper on the truck's front seat and doused it in gasoline, Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan said. They also used bottle rockets to help ignite the truck, he said.

The fire was reported at 2:45 p.m. Sunday in the 600 block of South Hilltop Drive.

"The evidence supporting arson is very strong," said Columbia Falls Fire Department Chief Bob Webber, adding that firefighters were able to extinguish the fire in about 10 minutes.

The 1996 Kenworth truck cab, valued at $30,000, was a total loss, Meehan said. The trailer was not damaged.

The youths, who reportedly lived in the neighborhood, told investigators they wanted to see the truck explode.

The truck was owned by Mild Fence Co. of Kalispell and was parked outside the driver's home. The driver was not home at the time of the incident.

The boys are in their parents' custody while officials continue to investigate the fire. The case eventually will be forwarded to Flathead County Youth Court.