In June 1996, an eleven year old boy set a fire in the stairwell of an apartment building causing the death of eight residents in an upstairs apartment. March of 1998 saw a mentally handicapped twelve year old girl cause $1.2 million in damage as a fire she set destroyed an entire apartment complex. July of this year saw a six year old boy, possibly incited by the fireworks season, take a lighter and ignite simple newspaper, which trapped him in the family’s dog house. He escaped with his life, but deep tissue burns over 40% of his body will forever remind him of the mistake he made that day.

Tragic stories indeed, but stories that all too often unfold in communities across North America. And one thing that these events share is the presence of "effective" youth firesetting intervention programs in the communities where these kids live.

Youth firesetting programs, or juvenile firesetting programs as they are sometimes called, are designed to provide intervention for children and/or their families when the misuse of fire by the child has begun. These children present an extreme risk to themselves, their families, and the community in which they live. To avoid the deadly and destructive behavior described in the stories above, effective intervention must come into play as soon as possible after the discovery of the firesetting behavior. And while many cities and towns across North America already have intervention programs, some do not. If your community does not have this important service, you should be asking the question "Why?"

Most firesetting intervention programs are found in fire departments. This is a fairly new role for fire departments and it is not uncommon to find them struggling to find the staff and know-how to develop effective programs. Working with families can be challenging and far from the response role normally filled by a fire department. Partnerships with community agencies such as mental health and child welfare are also crucial. While many take on this challenge, others are unable to get the support to develop this way of preventing fires.

You may be asking how the tragic stories that were shared earlier could happen if a youth firesetting intervention program was available within those communities? The answer is simple: intervention programs cannot prevent that all important first fire from being set. Intervention programs are there to keep children from continuing to set fires. It is the responsibility of those caring for children to keep them safe and set a proper example of safe fire use. If you are the caregiver of a child, ask yourself the following questions to see how well you have provided for the fire safety of the child under your care.

• Are matches/lighters kept in a safe place, high and out of reach?
• Do you use, store and generally treat matches/lighters like a dangerous tool?
• When the child under your care sees you use matches/lighters, are they seeing you treat it with respect and caution?
• Since children will do as you do, not as you say, will the children in your care understand fire safety when they see you use candles, the barbecue, fireworks, or the fireplace/campfire?
• Have you told the children under your care how you expect them to treat matches/lighters?
• Have you told the children under your care what to do if they find matches/lighters or see a friend playing with these items?

If you can answer "yes" to all of these questions, then you are unlikely to have a problem with child firesetting. Most firesetting behavior happens because of unclear rules and expectations along with a natural curiosity about fire (something we all share).

If you answered "no" to any of these, consider what can be done to make your child safer. But also remember that sometimes a child’s firesetting behavior is caused by a crisis or problem in their life (or their family). An effective intervention program can help you understand which reason might be causing the behavior.

If help is not available in your community, it can be found elsewhere in the country. Let your fire agency know how important this service is to you and your neighborhood. Citizen’s voices speak much louder than those of a fire department member. Help take responsibility for making your community, and your children, safer.