FIRE FIGHTERS— FIRE SETTERS’ REST FRIENDS
COMMUNITY RELATIONS
Child fire setting is a major part of the U.S. arson problem. However, until about four years ago, few people realized just how extensive the juvenile fire-setting problem is. A program developed in San Francisco to change children’s fire-setting behavior is proving exceptionally successful by utilizing the abilities and experiences of fire fighters.
In a corner of a basement, a pile of papers and rubbish is deliberately ignited. Within seconds, flames climb the walls and cross the ceiling. Smoke fills the house, filtering into the upstairs rooms. The unmistakable odor of smoke bolts the family to action. They evacuate as the San Francisco Fire Department arrives and extinguishes the blaze.
Books and magazines are stacked atop a stove and the gas burners turned on. Just before the rising flames spread to other sections of the kitchen, the owner of the house rushes in and quells the blaze.
Arson.
In both cases, the fire setters were family members; in both cases, it was not the fire setters’ first arson attempt; and in both cases, the fire setters were under 11 years of age.
Statistically, the United States has the world’s highest arson rate. Of the more than 2.8 million fires in the United States in 1979, nearly one out of four was deliberately set. In the last decade, 54.5 percent of all arrested arsonists were under 18 years of age, including 11 percent age 10or under.
The tremendous problem of juvenile arson had gone largely unrecognized for several reasons: prior to 1979, records on child fire-setting statistics were not well kept by the fire service or by child service agencies. Now, more accurate information is collected by communities across the country, leading to a new national awareness of the magnitude of the problem.
A second reason for the problem receiving little attention is that parents often hesitate to seek help for their children because disclosure of the child’s fire-setting activities is generally followed by alienation from other families and the child being expelled from school. Parents also fear intervention by authorities because many juvenile courts and police departments view fire setting as the first clue to a child’s future criminal career. In addition, nearly all states hold parents economically responsible for fires set by their children; and in many cases, fire setters are abused or neglected children using fire to call attention to their plight.
Another reason that the juvenile arson problem went largely unnoticed and unchecked was because not much was known about why children set fires.
In the late 1970s, studies conducted by Captain Joe Day of the Los Angeles County Fire Department brought to light not only the scope of the juvenile arson problem, but some of the reasons for it as well.
Day was issued two grants from the U.S. Fire Administration and, working with psychologist Dr. Kenneth Fineman, developed a screening (questioning) system to categorize child fire setters as being little, definite or extreme fire-setting risks.
Those classified as having little involvement in fire setting are basically children who accidentally set fires or who set fires out of curiosity (mostly young boys ages 4 to 13). More than 80 percent of those falling in the definite risk category are young boys who are undergoing stressful situations (primarily family or school related, such as a death in the family, divorce, inattentive or absent fathers, new babies, poor school grades, etc.).
This screening system, which was published in early 1981 in both manual and videotape form, enables fire service personnel to put together profiles on child fire setters and identify children who are or could become chronic fire setters. Children in the definite or extreme fire-setting risk category are referred to mental health professionals.
According to Day, who has been involved in the fire prevention education unit for more than 20 years, a four-year-old fire setter is not generally thought of as an arsonist, but it’s been proven that many arsonists (those 18 and older) began setting fires when they were very young and never broke the habit.
The USFA had commissioned psychologist Dr. Jessica Gaynor to research and develop a child fire setters’ treatment program that was conceived by Pamela McLaughlin, a fire safety volunteer with the San Francisco Fire Department.
McLaughlin’s concept called for longterm, one-on-one interaction between fire fighters and child fire setters. “If a child fire setter could have a fire fighter for a friend and an example,” McLaughlin speculated, “then the child’s fire setting could be stopped.”
Calling on the studies and category profile sheet concepts put together by Day and Fineman, McLaughlin’s idea took root, and after two years of federal testing, research and development, the Firehawk program was launched in San Francisco in lune 1980.
In addition to providing the adult attention a child lacks, the fire fighter also attempts to raise the child’s feelings of confidence and self worth; teach the child the proper way to express emotions, especially anger; explore recreational resources available to the child; and teach the child fire safety and prevention basics.
Fire fighters wishing to be involved in the Firehawk program undergo a psychological screening and a 12-hour training course that includes the psychology of fire setting, parent effectiveness, relationships and role playing. Fire fighters are required to devote at least eight hours a month to their charges and be available by phone any time.
Referrals to the program come from the juvenile court system, mental health and social welfare agencies, public and private schools, the Arson Task Force and the San Francisco Fire Department.
Thirty of the 160 children screened were matched up with 30 fire fighters. These 30 children were fatherless boys between the ages of 5 and 13, who were found to have moderate difficulty controlling their impulses and expressing their emotions. They also had histories of repeated fire setting (having set two to four fires prior to entering the program) and categorized as definite risks for future fire setting. (The other 130 children screened were categorized as little-risk fire setters and an educational intervention program was set up for them, offering various plans and materials designed to reduce fire play and teach safety.)
Fire Fighter Craig Brown, one of the program’s first volunteers and now secretary of the National Firehawk Foundation and coordinator of the San Francisco Firehawk program, says that many of the program’s children have been trained not to trust adults. Often the children are abused and neglected, and fire fighters have to break through a lot of suspicion and doubt before the children can learn to modify their fire-setting behaviors. It can be two to three months before the children begin to open up to fire fighters, warns Brown, and it takes a lot of perseverance on the part of fire fighters to get through this trying time.
During the first month of the program, Brown explains, the children attend fire prevention and home safety classes in order to set straight a lot of the misconceptions and misinformation they gleaned about fires. “It’s a type of survival consciousness training,” says Brown.
About every two months, the children and fire fighters participate in group activities, picnics, ballgames, etc.
Since the program began, there has been a huge success rate, says Brown. Not one of the children paired with a fire fighter has been known to set another fire.
A fire fighter and child are paired anywhere from approximately 6 to 18 months, depending on the child, explains McLaughlin, now chairman of the board of the foundation. After a time, the child begins to move toward a natural parting, preferring to spend time with peers rather than the fire fighter. Only after the natural break can a fire fighter be paired with another child.
Brown has been paired with four children since the program began.
Establishing a Firehawk program requires minimal resources and expenses because the majority of staff time is donated by fire fighters. The foundation offers a complete manual on the procedures and the steps to take to set up and run a program. To contact the foundation, write to the National Firehawk Foundation, P.O. Box 17488, San Francisco, Calif. 94127, or telephone (415)922-3242.
“juvenile arson is generally an expression of underlying social or personality problems,’ says Dr. Gaynor, now president and executive director of the foundation. “Young fire setters are hungry for attention and affection and often are very, very lonely,” adds McLaughlin. “Lighting fires is frequently a call for help.”
The answer to this call is treatment, not punishment.
