Some of the statistics regarding children and fire are staggering. Child fire deaths represent 23% of all fire deaths nationally. Of every 100 people who die in fires, 24 are killed because of children playing with fire. Of every 100 people who die in child-set fires, 85 are children. Ninety percent of these child fire deaths occur in homes without working smoke detectors. In the first six months of 1995, referrals to Rhode Island Family Court for arson had increased 76.5 percent over a similar period last year.

The North Kingstown Fire Department has had in place a Juvenile Fire setter Intervention Program since June of 1994. The program is based on national standards, with the purpose of educating juveniles in fire safety and fire behavior, while screening for those juveniles in need of further professional intervention. Swift diagnosis of fire setting behavior has been shown to result in successful intervention and remediation of that behavior. The program relies on parental cooperation, and consists four to eight weekly one-hour sessions. The program works in close cooperation with the Juvenile Division of the North Kingstown Police Department, as well as with the D.A.R.E. program.

To enhance the effectiveness of the program, the Department has increased its efforts within the school system, particularly targeting children in the kindergarten, first, and second grades. Education programs are also in place for pre-school aged children. The program targeted for third grade students is a reinforcement of earlier fire safety messages, and an introduction to the many facets of the Fire Department, including responsibilities such as Emergency Medical Service, fire inspection, fire investigation, and public education and community planning.

Background Information

There are at least three sequential phases of fire behavior. The first is fire interest, which is experienced by the majority of children between the ages of 3-5. Examples of this curiosity are seen in questions such as, "How hot is fire?", and "What makes fire burn?". Children often incorporate fire interest into play activity, for instance playing with toy fire trucks, wearing fire hats, and "cooking" food on toy stoves.

The second phase of fire behavior is described as fire play. Fire play typically emerges in children aged 5-9, and is most often observed in boys experimenting with matches and lighters. Controlled experimentation at this age is desirable, for example upon a child’s request he is allowed to strike a match and light the candles on a birthday cake. This supervised activity results in the development of competent fire-safe behavior, knowing under which conditions a child may strike a match and light candles. Unfortunately, a greater number of children will engage in unsupervised fire play activity. Studies have indicated that over 60% of children interested in fire will engage in at least one unsupervised fire play incident. To complicate the situation, many children will not admit to having engaged in fire play unless specifically questioned about an incident. Most unsupervised fire play is a single episode motivated by curiosity, with the resulting fire being either accidental or unintentional. Should the fire become out of control, the youngster will make serious attempts to extinguish the fire themselves, or go for help. By age ten, most children have learned the rules of fire safety and prevention, and are capable of engaging in age-appropriate fire setting activities, such as helping a parent to light the family barbecue or campfire. For a number of children, however, what begins as one or two unsupervised incidents can lead to repeated intentional fire setting behavior.

Pathological fire setting behavior is characterized by multiple fire starting over a period of at least six months. This behavior involves planned fires. Some clues parents may find to this kind of activity include discovering burned candles in the child’s room, or the acquiring of matches and lighters by the child. Motivations for this type of fire setting behavior include attention-getting, anger, malicious mischief, watching the fire burn, and for a small but increasing number of older adolescents, profit. During the last decade, juveniles have accounted for 35-45 % of all arson arrests. Arson has the highest rate of juvenile involvement of all crimes indexed by the FBI. While most children will start fires alone, most adolescents will start fires with one or more friends, often with motivations such as peer recognition and acceptance.