Boys Suspected of Starting House Fire Say They Are Innocent

There`s a neigborhood debate over a house fire ignited by fireworks. Investigators say two boys are responsible for the weekend blaze that destroyed a Bossier City home. Yet, those boys and thier parents say otherwise. "We took the fireworks individually, took them to the end of the driveway and set them off right here," 14 year old Dylan McCarty said. McCarty says he and his brother and their friends are being unfairly blamed for a disaster that wasn`t their fault. The boys were at a friend`s house on Dennis Street Sunday night when the home caught fire. According to the Bossier City Fire Department, the blaze was started after two of the boys set off fireworks inside the car port. "Absolutely not," McCarty said, " we poured water on every single one of them and an hour later the house started to catch fire." The boys say they were nowhere near the carport so their fireworks could not be to blame. Dylan`s mother, Robin McCarty, stands behind her sons story. "I clearly think it was an accident," Robin McCarty said. "It was most likely a stray firework that floated into the car port from a neighbor child," McCarty said. However, neighbors say that was not the case. Brad Alexander says he saw what happened and calls the boys behavior more than horseplay. "They were the only ones firing and even if it was a stray one, they were firing fireworks under the house," Alexander said. He says the boys even threw fireworks at each other; all the while edging closer to the home. "All I ask is they take a little responsibility for it," Alexander said, " you can`t put the blaze on somebody else when you were the only ones at the house and you were popping firecrackers." Still, the boys and their families maintain their innocence. Despite this dispute, there is one thing on which everyone agrees. What started as a game, no matter who was playing, ended with tragic consequences. The Bossier City Fire Dept. says it stands by their investigators report and no new evidence has been presented to prove anyone else was involved in the fire.