Child Arsonists Part 3: An Observational Study

As children grow, their minds and their understanding of the world grow as well. Those who study juvenile fire setting behaviors believe that a correlation exists between the age of a fire starter and the likelihood that future fires will be set by the child. They also believe that patterns in the child’s life can be measured and used to determine the probability of recidivism in a young fire setter’s life. Although this issue is very difficult to study and to understand, warning signs can be recognized and intervention can occur before fires become out of control.

S.O.S. Fires took 551 children living in Portland who had set fires and placed them into groups by age. The four groups, studied over a four-year period, were grouped from ages 1-5 and classified as preschoolers, ages 6-11 as elementary age, ages 12-14 as middle school aged, and ages 15-17 as high school aged. These children were then classified into three groups: little concern, definite concern, and extreme concern.

One hypothesis in this study is that the younger children who have lit fires may not be at risk for lighting further fires if they receive fire education. This is true for most children who light fires out of curiosity. Once they fully aware of the effects of a fire, they may be less likely to light them. These children were placed in a category of “little concern” since fire prevention programs are effective in preventing them from lighting another fire. The children classified as “definite concern” were those who lit fires in response to some sort of personal stressor. Although education on fire is an important aspect in preventing further fire, it is not enough to curb fire setting behavior. Mental health, medical, and parental intervention is necessary in these cases to prevent the child from setting further fires. The third group, classified as “extreme concern,” is the children who require urgent care to assist with their fire setting. These children are similar to those in the extreme concern group as far as the motives behind their behavior, but also demonstrate clues that fire setting will continue before any appointment for treatment can be kept.

Of the 551 children, 87% were boys and 13% were girls. In the separate age groups, the distribution of boys and girls are as follows: preschool, 92.3% boys and 7.7% girls, elementary, 89% boys and 11% girls, middle school, 74.4% boys and 25.6% girls, and high school, 68.4% boys and 31.6% girls. Please note that some of the members of the high school age group were actually older than 17, but were younger than 17 developmentally, thus accepted to the study. These numbers display that the majority of the younger children who set fires are boys while girls light fires when they are older.
The total numbers for level of concern are as follows: 63% of the children were classified as little concern, 34.1% as definite concern, and 2.9% as extreme concern. The 551 children were then classified by levels of concern based on their gender to illustrate how many in each group were male and which were female. Of the children that were shown to have little concern for setting more fires, 84.3% were boys and 15.7% were girls. Those portraying a definite concern were 85.4% male and 14.6% female. The children clustered as extreme concern were 85.7% male and 14.3% female. These percentages show a fairly consistent pattern between males and female in each group.

The study further investigated the circumstances of the fires set by these participants. The following questions were asked of each participant’s incident that ended in their participation in this study. What day of the week was the incident? What time of day did the incident take place? What was the ignition source? What was the first item that was ignited? What was the physical location of the incident? Were matches or lighters easily available to the juvenile? Were other children involved in the incident? Does the child live with a smoker? Was the incident a repeat offense or a first offense?

The day of the week for the preschool age group was not consistent since most preschool aged children have structured lives. Some had more supervision during the week days while in preschool and set fires on weekends while other children had less supervision at babysitters houses than during the weekends when their parents were home. The elementary aged children seemed to light fires at the beginning of the week, on Sundays and Mondays. Middle school aged children in the little concern group lit fires mostly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays while those in the other two categories varied, most likely to set fires out of boredom any time out of the week. High school aged children lit fires in the same pattern as the middle school aged children. The incidences of fires on Fridays and Saturdays were low in all four groups, most likely due to these days being commonly used to spend time with families.

The time of day, like the day of the week, probably is dependent on lowered supervision. Preschool aged children lit their fires around dinnertime, when adults are usually very busy. Elementary aged juveniles commonly lit fires after school. Middle school aged children as well as high school aged children often set fires between 10:00am and 1:00pm.

The ignition sources, though mainly dependent on the availability of the source, differed across the board. Preschool aged children, being young and unable to manipulate a match very well, mostly used lighters. Kids aged 6-11 were about half and half between matches and lighters. Juveniles of this age probably possess great curiosity of matches and how they work. Both middle school and high school kids also used both matches and lighters alike. These kids, however, seemed to experiment more with fireworks, aerosol cans, and other flammable objects and chemicals.

The items juveniles lit often provide a closer look into the reason behind the fire. For example, with both age groups 1-5 and 6-11, bedding and curtains were the most common things ignited. Most of these fires were set accidentally by the flick of a lighter in a bedroom. Older kids tend to test flammable chemicals and fireworks. Also, older kids experiment with smoking as a part of peer acceptance.

The most common location for fires set by preschool aged children is the bedroom due to their lack of being able to leave the house. Elementary aged children light the majority of their fires in the bedroom, though a few are set in the yard or at school since they are a bit more mobile than the preschool age group. The middle school and high school aged kids tend to light the majority of their fires at school. This is true especially for the girls.
Access to matches and lighters are quite easy for children of all age groups.

Unfortunately, parents do not always do a good job at hiding these items from children. Older children can easily purchase lighters in stores. Matches are easy enough for a child of any age to obtain. Some restaurants even keep matches near cashier stations where anyone can grab them.

In many child set fires, other children are involved. Preschool aged children tend to act alone when setting fires. Elementary aged boys almost always light fires in the presence of another child, except for the girls who almost always act alone. With both middle school and high school aged children, other peers are involved in the incident. This may have a lot to do with peer pressure.

About 66% of children in the preschool and elementary school age groups had a smoker in their home, making access to matches and lighters even easier for them. This aspect did not seem to make much difference with fires set by children in the other two age groups. This is most likely the result of matches and lighters being easy to come by. Children generally without question can purchase lighters.

From the 551 children who participated in this study, very few of them had been involved in any type of fire prevention program prior to this one. Most of the children belonged to the little concern group, where recidivism was very low. Recidivism was much more common in children in the definite concern group and occurred in about 16% of the children who participated in the fire education program. The children in these groups also received therapy and their families were active in preventing the recidivism. This observations study demonstrates that with appropriate education and treatment, further fires can be prevented. This is especially true for kids labeled as little concern. Unfortunately, however, juveniles in the extreme concern category 50% of the time continued to light fires upon the completion of the program and therapy. The most important approach to working with juvenile arsonists is to understand their motives behind the fires. Once this is determined, the best approach suitable to the child can be determined.

References

Bumpass, E., Fagelman, F., and Brix, R. Intervention with Children Who Set Fires. American Journal of Psychotherapy. 1983.

Cole, R.E., Crandall, R., & Bills, J. Firefighter’s Complete Juvenile Firesetter Handbook. 1999.

Hall, J.R. Children Playing With Fire: U.S. Experience 1980-1996. 1998.

Karchmer, C. Juvenile Firesetter and School Arson Prevention Programs. U.S. Department of Education. 1983.

Kolko, D.J., & Kazdin, A.E. Motives of Childhood Firesetters: Firesetting Characteristics and psychological correlates. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 1991.

Schwartzmann, P., Stambaugh, H., & Kimball, J. Arson and Juveniles: Responding to the Violence. A Review of Teen Firesetting and Interventions. 1994.

SOS FIRES: Youth Intervention Programs, 22220 SE Heidi Lane, Suite 1, Damascus OR 97089.

U.S. Fire Administration. Juvenile Firesetters: What You Can Do! 1997.