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Juvenile Firestarters: Their Cry for Help
| Article
# : |
15311 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1989 |
2,254 Words |
| Author
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Evans Johnson
Evans Johnson was a foreign correspondent based in several
Middle Eastern countries from 1975 to 1982, and is now an
associate editor with the New York City Tribune. |
When the fire marhals were called in, because the fire chief wasn't sure of the fire's cause, they found seven-year-old Sally Anne sobbing, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She had set her bedspread on fire with matches while her father was sleeping and her mother was at work. Because the marshals come to the scene immediately, they usually discover the genuine course of events and can observe family dynamics.
After gently asking Sally Anne about what she likes to do, her favorite foods, and her best friends, the fire marshal asked her how discipline was handled in her family. She replied, "My mommy makes me go to my room but my daddy hits me with a strap, and one time he left a red hand mark on my face." While interviewing the other family members, the marshal found that the parents were in the process of separating and had fought violently that afternoon. Within forty-eight hours Sally Anne was talking to a counselor at the community mental health outpatient center.
"I look out for red flags when I initially talk to kids," says New York City Fire Marshal Charlie Wagner of the Juvenile Firesetters Intervention Program (JFIP) in the Bronx. JFIP has taken on the job of trying to make sure Sally Anne and thousands of others like her don't start another fire.
The National Fire Protection Association estimates that children between the years of seven and eighteen account for about 40 percent of the arson arrests nationwide each year.
Several U.S. cities have launched juvenile fire prevention programs--usually involving schoolroom teaching about fire safety and "big brother" role-playing by firemen who volunteer to spend time with known juvenile firesetters--but the JFIP in New York differs from most of them. For example, in Washington, D.C., and in several cities in California, the "Firehawk" juvenile programs bring together young arsonists and working firemen. Each child (most juvenile arsonists are boys) is "adopted" by a fireman, who visits the youngster and serves as a good role model.
According to Wagner, however, investigators there have to work with large and often poor families. More than one child may be troubled, and attention given to one child can spur jealousy among his siblings, who sometimes begin starting fires just to get a fireman's attention.
Wagner estimates that one third of the city's approximately thirty-five
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