Thursday, October 1, 2026
In what is being described as a dangerous prank that went awry, three 11-year-old boys were arrested on Sunday after they allegedly set fire to the dunes near the beach entrance at Pacific Boulevard and Shore Road.
City Manager Charles Theofan said the incident happened on Sunday at around 4 p.m., after the trio allegedly used a lighter to ignite an aerosol can of hairspray. The flames from the can ignited shrubbery and brush along a stretch of the dunes as a result, Theofan said.
Theofan said that the Long Beach police and fire departments responded to the scene, and that the flames were eventually extinguished. He said the Department of Environmental Conservation was also made aware of the incident. No injuries were reported, Theofan said, and the boys were later arrested.
“They burned down a good portion of the dune grass,” Theofan said. “[Police] fortunately caught them red handed, so to speak.”
One witness said that some of the children on the nearby playground spotted the smoke and cried out “fire,” alerting nearby neighbors.
Theofan said that because the boys are minors, their names are being withheld. He added that they were not charged as adults and they were arraigned in Nassau County Family Court on Monday.
