Why Do Children Set Fires?

According to the Office of Juvenile Justice of the U.S. Justice Department, there are three groups of juvenile fire setters.

Group I

	Curiosity Fire Setter
	• Most often young males aged three to seven years. • Often ignite fire with lighter belonging to family member • Fire setting incident anticipated to be isolated but appropriate disciplinary action by parent or guardian is necessary. • Incident should alert parent or guardian of need to have discussion with child about fire safety.

Group II

Intentional Fire Setter

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) indicates that one third of the children starting fires are intentional fire setters. • The reasons for this group starting fires are either as an attention getter or as a delinquent juveniles. – Attention seeker enjoys getting the attention following the action. Often these children have suffered from abuse, neglect, and stress at school and at home. – The delinquent juvenile usually exhibits aggressive behavior in all settings. Often these children are involved in activities such as fighting, stealing and vandalism. • The intentional juvenile fire setter will require extensive resources to respond to the activities in order to try and prevent the behavior from escalating into other criminal activities.

Group III

	Crisis Fire Setter
	• This fire setter has severe psychiatric problems. Symptoms usually fall into two major personality types labeled as "Impulsive Neurotic" and "Borderline Psychotic." • Many of these fire setters are in state mental or correctional institutions

Proceed to Addressing the Problem