PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Fire officials say a fire that displaced 16 people from their Rhode Island apartments was started by an unsupervised 7-year-old boy who tried to light a candle and accidentally ignited a couch.

Authorities say the boy’s mother had left for work and his father had not yet arrived home.

The boy tried to light the candle and instead set fire to the couch in the third-floor unit at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

The child banged on a window and two neighbors saw and rescued him.

The boy and his two rescuers were taken to the hospital as a precaution.