Juvenile Fire Setters Program
This program is headed up By Lieutenant John Stefanik. If you need assistance in this area, call 765-2500
JUVENILE FIRESETTING FACT SHEET
Juvenile firesetting is a serious problem. Listed below are a few figures to show how this effects us all.
Nationally:
- Out of every 100 people who die in fires, 23 are children.
- Out of every 100 children who die in fires, 24 are caused by children playing with fire.
- Out of every 100 people who die in child-set fires, 85 are children.
- In 1995, Children playing with fire caused approximately 97,000 fires in the United States.
- Child-set fires caused 304 civilian deaths, 2500 injuries, and approximately $287 million in property damage in just the year of 1995 alone.
- 54% of all those arrested for arson in the US are juveniles.
- Arson is the number one violent crime caused by juveniles, but the crime least addressed by the community.
- If untreated, 85% of the children will continue to light fires.
State Of Rhode Island:
The FBI ranked Rhode Island as the fourth leading state in the nation for juvenile arson arrests.
Locally:
- In Woonsocket, for the last seven years, 250 children and their families have participated in the firesetter program.
- The Firesetter program has a 95.8% success rate, with only a 4.2% recidivism rate.
- In the last three years children playing with fire in the City of Woonsocket have caused over $2.5 million dollars in property damage.
- There have been 4 lives lost due to child set fires in the last 4 years.
- Woonsocket Fire Department has the only in-depth Firesetter Program in the northern part of Rhode Island, and 1 of only 3 such programs in the State.
