A teenager who started a fire in his Californian school has been ordered to pay $2m.

The 17-year-old pleaded guilty to felony arson after starting a fire at the Rio Americano School in Sacramento.

The boy was ordered by a juvenile court to carry out a rehabilitation programme and to make a restitution payment of $2m.

It was claimed by prosecutors that the fire had been started in an attempt to set off an alarm, so that the boy could leave lessons early to smoke cannabis.

But the fire, started in a store room, damaged 15 classrooms and a theatre, closing part of the campus and causing major disruption to the school.

Summer fears

The boy's family is now said to be examining its insurance policy to see if it extends to the cover the bill now facing the teenager.

In the United Kingdom, schools which have broken up for the summer holidays will be on alert for the increased threat of arson.

Each summer, schools have been the subject of arson attacks - with a survey earlier this year showing that the rate of attacks was continuing to increase.

At present, there are an average of 16 arson attacks per week on schools, says the Arson Prevention Bureau - an organisation set up jointly by the Home Office and the insurance industry.

The average cost of school arson attacks is more than �1m per week, an increase of 30% over five years.

While schools are often targeted during the night or in the holidays when they might be unattended, the Arson Prevention Bureau highlighted a worrying trend for more daytime attacks.

These have included days when the school has been occupied, raising fears about pupils' safety.

Among the attempts to reduce arson attacks, there has been a greater use of CCTV cameras and last summer, police on Merseyside used helicopters to patrol schools at risk.