Boy gets magnifying glass for Christmas, sets lawn on fire

A Texas couple thought a magnifying glass would be an innocent Christmas gift for their pre-teen son — until he accidentally set the lawn on fire with it.

Nissa-Lynn Parson, of McKinney, posted to Facebook that she and her husband got their 12-year-old son, Cayden, a magnifying glass for reading. But the parents were stunned when he ended up starting a small fire on Christmas Day.

“We discovered he and his two brothers went out on the driveway and burned a couple holes in some paper,” she wrote. “Everything was under control until the boys came running into the house telling us that a corner of the lawn was on fire and the Christmas lights were melting!”

She posted photos and a video of the family trying to douse the smoking, blackened lawn.

“Justin and I rushed outside to see the entire front lawn turning black!” Parson wrote. “We grabbed buckets, Justin turned the sprinklers on, and I grabbed blankets to smother and trap it – before it could spread any more into the neighbors yard! What a sight to see – a bunch of people running around crazy trying to put a front lawn fire out while wearing matching Christmas jammies!”

Dad Justin Parson told local outlet FOX 4 that the boys got a little too excited when Cayden opened his present.

“He opens the magnifying glass and goes, ‘Yay, a magnifying glass,’” he said. “The other son in the background, ‘Yay, now we can light stuff on fire.’ And we’re like, ‘Oh dear.’”

The sun was shining, so Cayden and his older brother Ashton decided to angle the magnifying glass toward a bit of newspaper on the porch, he told the station.

When the paper was consumed by the fire, the brothers didn’t know what to do.

“The flame starts, so I picked up the newspaper and just kind of like throw it,” Ashton told the outlet.

The fire spread to the lawn, and the panicked brothers ran inside screaming for help.

“The smoke was getting like as high as the tree,” Ashton said.

Cayden told the outlet he “just wanted to start a little fire,” but he “probably” shouldn’t set any more.

Luckily, no one was hurt, but the brothers have some hefty chores ahead of them in a few months.

“They will definitely have yard work to do once spring comes,” their mother told the station.

“This will be a story passed down to generations and generations,” she added. “’Remember the one year you lit the lawn on fire?’ Yeah, this will be a story that lasts a long time.”