DALLAS – Dallas Fire-Rescue Arson Investigators escorted two seventh grade boys, handcuffed yet still wearing their school uniform of a blue shirt and khaki pants, into jail Wednesday night after charging them with arson.

"I don't think I've ever dealt with any this young," said Capt. M.D. Stephenson, Dallas Fire-Rescue.

The two boys are 13, barely teenagers, but now face three felony charges between them.

DFR accuses them of setting more than 15 fires, over the last three weeks, in the Winnetka Heights neighborhood in North Oak Cliff.

Their motive?

"One of them made the comment they wanted to make a name for themselves,” Capt. Stephenson added. “They started setting these fires. They progressively got larger and larger."

They did - from dumpsters, to a garage, then a house.

DFR arrested the boys before classes let out at Greiner Middle School Wednesday, and arson investigators said the duo confessed.

In Winnetka Heights, worried neighbors expressed relief. They had been rotating by taking days off during the work week to watch each others’ homes.

"It's kind of discouraging kids of this age are creating these types of problems and they seem to have no regard for anyone else's property," said Shanna Mizell, Winnetka Heights Resident.

Investigators said the seventh graders would set the fires walking to and from school.

They two are suspected of causing more than $60,000 in damage during November.

If convicted, at worst, the two 13-year-olds would have to stay in juvenile detention until they’re 18.

Their parents could still be held financially responsible for the damages.

E-mail jwhitely@wfaa.com.