This child is curious about fire and will play with it in order to learn about it. This child is trying to send a cry for help with his or her firesetting, because they are unable to cope with some trauma or stress in their life. This child is emotionally disturbed and uses the power of fire to compensate for feelings of helplessness. The child needs intensive treatment in a secure hospital or residential facility able to deal with the firesetting problem. The child relies heavily on thinking errors and is very uncooperative with the assessment process.
Child has obsessive or compulsive fire thoughts and behaviors.
Juvenile firesetting is a much larger problem in communities than most people realize, or want to admit to. Many social services organizations just do not know how to handle the problem, nor do many parents or teachers. This is particularly true of social services foster care units that have no idea of what to do when placing a child into a foster home. We have seen, through lack of education, social services agencies place juvenile firesetters into foster care homes who have smokers in the home BAD choice, but simple ignorance on the part of the agency placing the child. Education of these agencies is a priority that local fire departments must recognize and correct.