Children Who Set Fires Want Attention, Experts Say

Half of the reported cases of arson in the country are the work of juveniles, ranging from children playing with matches to teen-agers looking for thrills.

In reality, youngsters probably cause many more fires. Often, a parent puts out the flames before they get out of hand, so there is no report to authorities.

New York City Fire Marshal James McSwigin, who has been active in a juvenile prevention program, said he has seen children as young as 7 who have set four, five or six fires before they got what they wanted: the attention of the authorities.

“Here is a youngster crying out for help, but he is not getting it until he manages to set a fire which gets out of control,” McSwigin said. “There’s a lot of denial on the part of the parents. They are much too quick to write these fires off as curiosity--playing with matches.”

Also, parents may not want the authorities looking at what’s going on in the home.

Investigators often can figure out the motive by the type and the place of the fire. Kids who are merely curious often will set a fire under a bed or in a closet, where it is dark and the fire appears more dramatic.

“I’m very suspicious when I see a fire on top of the bed, or if it is a little girl and she has burned her doll,” McSwigin said. “Something is wrong. She is turning the fire inward and at herself.

“Little boys take the fire outward. They generally won’t even set it in their room when they are crying out for help. It might even be in the parents’ room.”

Dr. Robert Cole, a professor at the University of Rochester and a consultant who has worked closely with the Rochester, N.Y., Fire Department’s juvenile prevention program, said that one of every two children has played with matches at least once.

He stressed that most juveniles who set fires have no serious or emotional handicaps.

“The problem is that we should not start going around labeling any child who had made a fire as a potential sociopath, or even a potential criminal,” Cole said. “A lot of it is curiosity fire-setting, and some of it is plain old-fashioned vandalism, but I don’t think this is a different kid than the kid who breaks windows, or soaps windows or knocks down stop signs.”

According to one study, 85% of the victims of fires set by children are the children themselves.

Fires from easily obtained matches, cigarette lighters, candles and stoves killed 69 children in New York in the last three years.

Dr. Frederick J. Mercilliott, who directs and teaches fire safety programs at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, pointed out that matches and lighters are everywhere and readily available to children.