There's some good news in the field of arson, particularly in regards to juvenile fire-setting. In 2003, the rate of arson offenses decreased by 6% from the previous year, reaching a new historic low. The juveniles represented in these statistics dropped at approximately the same rate as adults; they have accounted for roughly half since 1994. The percentage of fires started by children under age 10 is the lowest since at least 1980.

Analysts indicate that the declines may be due in part to more widespread counseling for juvenile fire-setters, arson task forces and other anti-arson programs. Those statistics and that conclusion is music to the ears of those who work in public education and juvenile fire-setter programs. Further good news is that the number of deaths among young children from fire play has decreased, according to FEMA. This reduction is attributed in part to product changes to lighters.

In 1991, the U.S. Department of Justice sponsored three juvenile fire-setter intervention pilot programs, and each received an award of $20,000 to support project operations through December 1992. Shortly after the award, the American Institutes for Research conducted an evaluation of the programs, focusing on the implementation process and the usefulness of the resource materials. Now, almost 15 years later, Operation Fire SAFE of central Oklahoma continues to operate, and by its own statistics has been very effective in decreasing the number of child-set fires.

A more recent evaluation of two juvenile fire-setter intervention programs in Portland, Ore., and San Antonio, Texas, employed a usage-focused evaluation method to recommend improvements to each program. Now in its 17th year, Portland's program has been in operation even longer than Central Oklahoma's. Longevity is one indicator of a program's success. Regardless of the effectiveness of an intervention program, however, it must have the flexibility and the economy to operate despite inevitable changes in the budgets, priorities, and administrative styles.

Oklahoma's program

The first step in Operation Fire SAFE is the referral process. The majority, about 65%, of the referrals comes from arson investigation; about 32% come directly from caregivers; the small remainder come from courts, police or other sources. The high percentage of referrals coming directly from caregivers is interpreted as indicative of community awareness and is considered good. Any juvenile fire-setting program would prefer to intervene before a child sets a fire that requires the attention of the fire department. To that end, the program has developed attractive, reader-friendly brochures and other public awareness strategies to alert the public to the danger of child fire-setting. The program is also vigilant in obtaining special announcements and other publicity. Recently, one of the local television stations ran a week-long special on the program, which highlighted fire dangers, including juvenile fire-setting and the Operation Fire SAFE program.

The second step involves scheduling an appointment for the interview and education session. The interview is preceded by obtaining signatures on informed consent and release-of-information forms. The standard FEMA forms are used to obtain information from the parent(s) and the child regarding family characteristics, the child and their interactions. Each interview takes approximately 45 minutes; the child and parents are interviewed separately.

Analysis of these forms yields a risk rating for family issues and child issues. Operation Fire SAFE uses the standard cut off to determine risk, and refers these juveniles and their families to mental health professionals. The FEMA forms of 2001 replaced locally adopted forms that were based on previous FEMA releases. The more current forms were readily accepted by Operation Fire SAFE participants. The FEMA forms are also used by Portland and San Antonio to determine risk level.

The third step involves the provision of educational sessions tailored to the family's situation. The officers conducting the evaluations have recognized the need to establish rapport with the family members. Training sessions for the officers address various means to best engage children and adolescents. The training includes practice opportunity. A variety of educational tapes have been identified and offer scenarios appropriate for different incidents, including curiosity fires of young children, impulsive and misguided play of preadolescents with various accelerators, first-person accounts by children who had played with fire, and descriptions of cases that involved serious penalties for people and physical damage. A video that speaks to the fast-acting, destructive nature of fire often is shown for the parents' benefit. The child and other family members are engaged in discussion of the video to identify what they learned. The family is often assigned homework to design a plan for an escape from their home in case of a fire.

The educational component is provided to all families. Those families that score above the cut-off for the FEMA interviews are also referred for mental health screening. The parental consent form includes the provision for the completed FEMA interviews to be sent to a mental health agency if a high at-risk score is determined.

All counties in central Oklahoma are served by various types of agencies: the guidance centers of the County Health Departments that receive funds from the Oklahoma Department of Health, local children and family service organizations, and community mental health centers that receive funds from the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. In general, these agencies target their care in the following manner: guidance centers serve less-impaired younger children who engage in fire play; children and family service organizations serve less-impaired older children; and the community mental health centers serve more-impaired children and youths. Each of these types of agencies has provisions to accept low-income clients for reduced fees.

The program management component includes the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments, which helps unite and focus the 35 fire department from three counties that participate in the project.

Program effectiveness

Program statistics show a marked decrease in the number of reported child-set fires and a low recidivism rate. Statistics from the area served by Operations Fire SAFE show a consistent annual decrease in child-set fires from 365 in 1993 to 163 in 1998. After 1998, the reduction has been less consistent, though the overall trend has continued downward. The lowest number, 113, was achieved in 2001. The most recent data, 2004, show an increase to 143.

Of the 1,747 children coming through the Oklahoma City Fire Department between 1991 and 2001, only 30 (1.7%) have returned for repeated fire-play behavior. Similar trends have been reported by the other participating fire departments.

Shortly after the grant award, which funded the start-up of the Fire SAFE Program, the American Institutes for Research conducted an evaluation focusing on the implementation process and the usefulness of resource materials. Although there was interest in determining the effectiveness of the programs in controlling juvenile fire-setting, it became evident that various factors, including limited evaluation resources, would preclude assessing these outcomes. The more recent evaluation of programs in Portland and San Antonio was termed a “utilization-focused” evaluation. As such, the focus was on providing information that would assist a particular program with management concerns. This evaluation decried the lack of uniform data across programs in the United States with which to determine effectiveness. Perhaps the time is right to fund an evaluation to determine more exactly the effectiveness of juvenile fire-setting programs and to determine elements which are essential for their success.

An outcome evaluation would presumably demonstrate clearly the effectiveness of the various juvenile fire-setter programs and might serve as an impetus to the creation of additional programs. Too often, it takes a crisis to spur on the creation and implementation of such a program. In Oklahoma, Operation Fire SAFE was started after three firefighters of the Oklahoma City Fire Department died while fighting a fire started by a 4-year-old. This tragedy crystallized the concern in this locale regarding child-set fires into a program to address it.

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Lois Pokorny, Ph.D., is a member of the behavioral health staff at Oklahoma County Child Guidance, where she has worked for the past 11 years.