Kirsten Larsen
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 01/99) - A new intervention program has been launched by fire departments throughout the North to combat the high numbers of juveniles deliberately playing with fire.

"One of the ongoing issues are unsupervised children and fire play," said Don Gillas, NWT fire marshal.

In 1997 there were 15 fires set by children under 12 years of age and 14 set by juveniles 12-16 years of age. Gillas said 30 per cent of fires are set by children and juveniles. Although the number of fires set by children and juveniles went down in 1998, Gillas is hoping that a new awareness and intervention project, developed for firefighters and the public, will keep the number of these fires down for good.

The Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention program for firefighters is the result of a one-year project funded by the GNWT and developed in partnership between the NWT Fire Marshal's office and the NWT Fire Chief's Association last year.

The intervention program was presented at the annual meeting for the NWT Fire Chief's Association before the new year and was introduced to all the fire departments across the NWT. Seminars are being held to educate the departments and Gillas said that eight departments have already used the intervention method to deal with incidents.

The intervention program offers firefighters a standard method for dealing with situations where a child or juvenile is suspected to have set a fire.

"The parents and the child are interviewed ... it's determined if (the fire setting) is a one-time thing or if there are ongoing problems causing it," said Gillas, adding the detachment members try to encourage the parents of the child to get professional help.

Gillas said the fire education and awareness portion of the intervention project can be conducted with the individual parents of the child or the entire community.

Pre-teens and teenagers are most often involved in setting fires, so the project takes into account the type of communication needed to deal with that age group as well as younger children.

"It's mostly 12-16-year-olds (setting fires)," said Gillas.

"There are even younger child fire setters from three years old, but it's predominantly 10, 12, and 13-year-olds."

As for the older teens, they are dealt with under the Young Offenders Act.

"They (teens 17 and up) can be charged," said Gillas. "The system is less forgiving as they grow up."