WOODBURN, OR (KPTV) -
Three teenagers police said set fire to Woodburn High School last spring will have attempted arson charges dropped.
As a result, the boys will not face adult charges for the four-alarm fire. A judge will hand down sentences for the teens next week.
Court documents said the teens lit two fires with a lighter and hand sanitizer during class back on May 11. The documents said the first fire was extinguished and the boys tried to put the second fire out with paper towels. Then they pushed the burning paper towels off a desk and into a closet filled with cardboard. The result was the four-alarm fire.
An attorney for one of the teens described the incident as "young people who did something stupid."
"They thought the fire would burn out in their hand, basically," said attorney John Kolego. "The situation got out of control."
More than a thousand students and hundreds of staff members moved quickly to escape the blaze as 16 fire departments responded to extinguish it.
SLIDESHOW: Woodburn High School fire
Copyright 2012 KPTV (Meredith Corporation.) All rights reserved.
