This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A young girl playing with a lighter started a fire Wednesday morning that heavily damaged an Orem house.

The 3-year-old and two other children who were in the home at 211 E. 740 North escaped the blaze.

Orem Fire Marshal Bret Larsen said the girl lighted a pillow on fire while playing with the lighter in a bedroom, then closed the door and went screaming for her teenage brother, who was asleep in another room.

The teen opened the bedroom door, saw the flames and got his sister and another child out of the house. The fire singed the hair of the teen and the 3-year-old, who also suffered a minor burn on the back of her hand.

The house, where 10 people live, is likely a total loss. The Red Cross was providing assistance.

Larsen cautioned parents to keep lighters and matches out of the reach of children and to find activities for them.

"In the summer, they're bored," he said, "and they need to have something constructive to do."