By George Chidi
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Copyright 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — When an 8-year-old Lawrenceville boy found some matches, he tried them out in the upstairs bedroom of his home.
The result of the fire a few weeks ago was predictably disastrous -- he and his father barely escaped the April 14 fire. The bedroom went up in flames, along with part of the attic.
Fires set by children claim hundreds of lives and destroy more than $300 million worth of property in a typical year, according to a study by the U.S. Fire Administration in 2002, the latest year for the study.
Fire safety officials in Gwinnett and around Georgia have been looking closely at programs designed to teach children how to avoid fire dangers. Officials say the approach has evolved from scaring children to looking at what causes fire-setting behavior.
But as it stands now, ju- venile fire-setter programs are a hodge-podge of resources and techniques. State officials say they want to change that.
Many --- but not all --- Georgia fire departments offer fire-training programs for children and their parents, Georgia’s Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine said.
“Traditionally, what was done was, you used scare tactics --- run around the firehouse, show them videos of charred bodies,” he said. But trainers realized over time that for a kid looking for extra attention, a trip to the local fire station could actually be a reward to a child who sets a fire. So the approach has shifted to one-on-one counseling and an emphasis on psychological evaluation, Oxendine said.
Training materials from Oxendine’s office note that most children set a fire because they’re simply curious, while others set fires as an outlet for emotional problems. In either case, serious fire-setting problems among children are relatively rare, area firefighters said.
Juvenile court judges can require some child fire setters to attend an intervention program, as happened earlier this year when three pre-teen boys set a fire in Loganville. That fire burned down several houses. As is typical for children that young, it was the first time they had caused a destructive fire.
The child fire-setter classes are usually ad-hoc affairs, taught as needed once parents, firefighters or, occasionally, juvenile judges identify a child in need.
But court referrals are rare, said Lt. Thomas Rutledge, a spokesman for the Gwinnett County Department of Fire and Emergency Services. Rutledge runs the department’s juvenile fire-setter program. Most of the time, parents bring their children in for help, he said. Rutledge usually meets with children at the department’s headquarters in Lawrenceville, in an office far away from cool fire engines and shiny red plastic firefighter hats --- the sorts of thing kids might find exciting.
“We see a mix of kids, but for the most part it has been from 5 to 10 years old,” he said. The majority of them are just curious and are not repeat fire setters, he said.
Rutledge said he tries to let children know that it’s OK to be curious about fire, but that it’s not OK to play with it, he said. “The goal is more of an intervention and educational approach.”
Georgia is developing a statewide standard for fire-setter intervention programs, Oxendine said. But fire department resources vary tremendously from one county to another. “Some have the behavioral science people on staff,” he said. “But the poorer communities can’t afford it.”
And the methods each department use vary wildly, fire educators say.
“Different communities have different programs,” said Serena Baldwin, program director for the Georgia Firefighters Burn Foundation. “Some do it one way. Some don’t do it at all.”
The initiative would divide the state into fire training regions to help smaller and poorer communities avoid duplication of effort, she said. A regional approach is particularly important in rural Georgia, where resources are stretched thin, she said.
Oxendine’s office hopes to roll out a toll-free intervention hotline for fire setters in the next few months. The goal is to have a place for parents, teachers and potential fire setters themselves to find help, Oxendine said.
CHILDREN WHO SET FIRES
Here are some typical warning signs and initial signs that a parent or guardian can look for to determine if a child’s curiosity with fire is cause for concern:
SOME INITIAL SIGNS
Burnt matches
Kids playing with lighters
Evidence of small fires burning in or around the home
WARNING SIGNS
Setting fires
Difficulty with authority figures or schoolwork
Hyperactivity
Inattentiveness
Poor problem-solving skills
Low self-esteem
No responsibility for their actions
Source: Office of Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner