Kids responsible for three recent blazes

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, July 2, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.

A 5-year-old boy playing with a cigarette lighter started a blaze Tuesday morning that damaged an apartment building near Washington Avenue and Lamb Boulevard, killing a dog and leaving 12 people homeless.

It was the third time in the past three weeks that a child playing with a lighter or matches has started a fire in the Las Vegas area that has caused significant damage.

"It happens more often here than we'd like to see," Las Vegas Fire and Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski said. "It's not that kids are intentionally setting buildings on fire. They're inquisitive."

In Tuesday's case, a man and woman told firefighters that their smoke alarm woke them up and, at the same time, their son ran into the bedroom and told them his bed was on fire.

The couple grabbed their two children and escaped. The father tried to go back into their first-floor apartment with a fire extinguisher, but the smoke was too thick, Szymanski said.

The fire caused $85,000 in damage, and a total of six adults and six children who live in the four-unit apartment building were displaced.

On June 20 an 8-year-old and 10-year-old set a fire in at an apartment building in Clark County Fire Department's jurisdiction, causing $30,000 in damage.

Eleven days earlier, on June 9, a child lit a bed on fire in a house near Gowan Road and Jones Boulevard, causing $60,000 in damage. A woman who lived in the house told firefighters she had just replaced the batteries in a smoke alarm the day before.

Children's misadventures with fire is a major concern for all firefighters and should be for the community as well, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

More fires set by children happen in summer because children are out of school, and because of the availability of July 4 fireworks.

On Sunday, two children who were trying get away from the wind so that they could light smoke fireworks did so in a semi-trailer and wound up setting the trailer on fire, Leinbach said. It was a $40,000 loss.

Youths start an estimated 70,000 fires each year in the United States, causing at least 300 deaths, 2,000 injuries and $300 million in damage, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

When children start fires, "you find there are extenuating circumstances, and they're using fire as a communication tool. You find they are being abused or their parents are getting divorced," Szymanski said.

Children as young as 3 years old have taken part in the Youth Fire Setter Intervention Program, which is designed to teach children who have set fires -- either accidentally or intentionally -- about the dangers to themselves and the community.

Although the program has been in place for 12 years, it kicked into high gear three years ago, when the program was revamped and expanded. Children up to age 17 go through the program when their parents think they have a problem with setting fires or or because parents want their kids to see the consequences of setting blazes.

Juvenile courts also order child fire-setters to attend the program, said Kathryn Hooper, director of the program and community risk reduction director for the Henderson Fire Department. Parents must go with their children, and they receive counseling too.

Classes meet two Wednesdays and one Saturday a month, and anywhere from three to 15 children and their parents typically show up.

A burn center coordinator from University Medical Center tells the children what happens when a person is burned, and fire investigators explain the law.

"We really try to open their eyes and let them know that no matter how hard they try, they cannot control fire," Hooper said. "Our hope is that we change their path and make them more aware of what they're doing, and the consequences."

Nevada has two other youth fire-setter intervention programs, one in Elko and one in Reno. Other areas of the state are interested in using Southern Nevada's program as a model, Hooper said.

Parents can't be held criminally liable for damage caused by children who set fires, but they are responsible for paying for the damage. Families who rent homes also typically get evicted when a child starts a fire, Szymanski said.

The bottom line is that parents need to supervise their children, and "lock up their lighters and matches as if they were guns," Szymanski said.

"Look at what one little lighter did today. It displaced 12 people," he said.

"I tell people if you don't know where the matches and lighters are in your house, ask the kids," Szymanski said. "They know."