March 8, 1989, 8:03 am, a four-year old child is playing with fire in a rear bedroom of his home. He lights a piece of wood on fire next to a wall heater and the fire then spreads to nearby clothing. The family gets out safely, but the real danger is just beginning for the responding firefighters.

The fire department arrives and two veteran captains, along with another firefighter go in to attack the fire that started in the rear bedroom. What these three firefighters don’t realize is that there is still fire above them and the heat and gases are building up.

Suddenly, flashover occurs. All three firefighters are caught in it. They are not safe. When the fire has been brought under control, the three firefighters are located in this single-family dwelling. It is noted that all three men are located less than six feet away from some form of exit, whether it was a window or a door. All three lost their lives that day.

Some experts have said that four-year olds are too young to understand the difference between right and wrong. This is where “they” are wrong!

Juveniles (anyone under the age of eighteen) set over 98,000 fires each year. Over one million children are injured due to fire and three thousand die from fire-related deaths annually. It has been determined that twenty-five percent of children who die in a fire incident have started the fire themselves. The average property loss caused by juvenile arson setters is three billion dollars and there is also an economic loss of approximately eight billion dollars annually. Juveniles set fire to about seven hundred properties a day. In 1997, a five percent increase was shown in juvenile arson fires in the United States alone. This figure has risen steadily since 1990. The United State is second, only to Hungary, in fire deaths caused by arson.

Juveniles represent fifty-five percent of