BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Fire Department responded to a two-alarm house fire at 88 Hazelwood Avenue just before 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Officials say two children, who are seen, on neighbors Ring doorbells, set a mattress on fire leaning against a home.
The fire displaced a family living at 88 Hazelwood Avenue. It also damaged part of the next-door home at 92 Hazlewood. Carl Flemming lives in 92 Hazlewood.
"I had a mattress I was throwing out. I bought a new bedroom set, and I was throwing stuff out. As you can see, it's leaned up against the house there. I was bringing it out for trash day, and I got a call that my house was on fire," Flemming says.
Flemming says the mattress has been sitting outside for three days. He was waiting for it to be picked up on trash day. Relatives across the street caught part of the incident on their Ring doorbell.
"From what I saw in the video, they show the kids in the driveway, bent down by the mattress, setting the mattress on fire," says Flemming.
Officials say they have obtained the lighter from the children. Residents call the incident "arson," but Buffalo Fire Department Division Chief Daniel Bossi isn't calling it "arson" yet.
"The actual term 'arson' may come with intent. It was started not accidentally, but I'd refrain from using the word arson at this time," Bossi says.
The fire displaced Adreonna Jackson, her fiance, and her 8-year-old son. Her grandmother has set up a GoFundMe.