But this statistic does not even include the far greater number of juvenile firesetting behaviors that never attain the status of criminal arson. Pervasiveness is only one characteristic of the juvenile firesetting problem.
Juvenile firesetting, both malicious and child fire play, is an incredibly destructive behavior.
It accounts for more than 280 deaths and 2,400 injuries annually. Solutions cannot become available until a problem has been recognized and defined. Within the fire service nationally, the recognition of juvenile firesetting as a problem is slowly emerging. But outside of the fire service, among mental health and social service providers, and even law enforcement, there is little acknowledgement that juvenile firesetting is even a problem, let alone how widespread and destructive it is. This is most true among the allied community agencies whose skills and resources must be enlisted to resolve the problem at the local level.