Three teenage girls have been arrested after surveillance footage captured them laughing while throwing a lit firecracker through the open window of a California home, starting a fire that destroyed a nursery being prepared for an unborn baby. The incident happened in Citrus Heights, near Sacramento, on 30 June, and firefighters found a mattress engulfed in flames inside the bedroom. Although the blaze was brought under control, the room suffered severe smoke and fire damage.

The nursery belonged to expecting parents Anthony Cadena and Lellises Morgans, who had been preparing it for their unborn son, Noah, due in around two weeks. Footage showed two girls lingering outside, apparently spotting and pointing at a security camera, before peering through an open window and tossing in the lit firecracker as a dog barked frantically. Cadena, who was at home playing a video game when his wife alerted him, rushed to the room and used a garden hose with help from a passer-by to slow the flames until crews arrived. Nobody was injured, and Morgans said she was horrified that anyone would deliberately target a nursery.