by Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 04/98) - Every year in the Northwest Territories, thousands of dollars worth of damage is done to house, home and family by children playing with fire.

According to the NWT fire marshal's office, between Jan. 1, 1990, and July 31, 1997, there were 198 child-related fire incidents, leading to a dollar loss of $5.6 million, 28 injuries and 12 deaths.

Greater efforts have been made in recent years to deal with juvenile firesetters before they do too much damage.

Neville Wheaton, Iqaluit's fire chief, has been diligent about fire awareness and informing children and adults about the damage fire can cause.

"We had some problems last year. We had a young fellow running around town that was actually setting fire to property and stuff -- mostly snowmobiles," said Wheaton.

"He would take the (gasoline) cap off and set fire to them."

To deal with situation, the fire department sat down with the boy and had a heart-to-heart chat, making it plain that the fire department, knew of several fires attributed to the boy.

"They were shacks, storage sheds and that type of thing," he said.

"The M.O. (method) was the same but we couldn't actually place the people there. Some of the fires we actually caught the guy, so we knew he set some of them," he added.

Though playing with fire is dangerous and occasionally deadly, most fire chiefs would agree that it is within a child's nature to experiment with unknowns, including fire.

Departments are usually not as concerned with that as they are with youth who turn curiosity into habit. When it becomes a cry for attention or means of retribution, it is time to worry.

A problem of this nature came up in the summer of 1996, when two Iqaluit boys poured gasoline over third boy, setting him on fire. The victim required skin grafts to repair his charred flesh. He is still undergoing extensive treatment for burns on his head and face.

Wheaton now works closely with the RCMP and the fire marshal's office to learn more about awareness programs such as the Juvenile Firesetters Intervention Program and The Learn Not to Burn Program.

"The normal approach to this 15 or 20 years ago was to talk to parents and say, 'Don't let your kids play with matches.' Now we find it much more effective if we can get to the kids and they take the message home to their parents," said Wheaton.

The program involves approaching each child as an individual with a family's permission and conducting an assessment to determine what risk they present to themselves, their home or their community.

There are three possible courses of action to deal with problem youth -- educational intervention, which is provided by the fire department, educational intervention, and referral to a mental-health agency.

"If we can create a whole new generation of people who have respect for fire and what it can do and the damage it can cause, it seems more effective," Wheaton said.

Each year fire chiefs from across the North meet to discuss problems facing their communities. Juvenile firesetting is a common theme.

"It's always been an issue in the NWT, especially because one-third of the population is under 15," said Mike Lowing, secretary-treasurer of the NWT Fire Chiefs Association.

The prominence of smoking in the NWT also contributes to a greater number of children playing with matches.

Lowing said fire play is not a criminal activity.

"They are not intentionally saying, 'I'm going to burn this building down.' What they're doing is saying, 'I'm going to light a fire for curiosity, to see what happens. I'm going to light a fire to entertain my friends. I'm going to light a fire because I want to see a fire. I'm upset about something in my life,'" said Lowing.

"It's common. It's in Yellowknife, it's in Hay River, Cambridge Bay, Taloyoak.... It's all over."