The Problem
- One of the leading causes of death for children under the age of 5 is playing with matches.
- Children and adolescents account for an estimated 60-75% of all fires nationwide.
- Recent statistics have shown that children and adolescents accounted for 1/4th of all the people who died in fires nationwide.
- Fire setting should not be written off as a “phase kids go through”.
- Fire setting is often an indication of serious emotional and social problems.
Our Goals
The goals of the program include the following:
- To provide fire safety education to all children, adolescents and adults.
- To coordinate a multi-disciplinary program to address the multi-faceted problem of juvenile fire setting.
- To decrease the number (incidences) of new fire-sets.
- To reduce the risk of recidivism.
- To provide a safer community in which all can reside.
- To gather statistics for future funding initiatives.
The Program
The Morris County Fire Watch Program is available to all Morris County residents between the ages of 3-18, regardless of religion, race, nationality, gender or income.
The Program works as follows:
- Referrals (sources will include parents, schools, the family court, police and fire departments) will be called into the Program’s Hotline which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at (800) 374-4798.
- A staff member from the Fire Watch Program will respond to the initial call within 24 hours. Information will be obtained, and the staff member will direct the appropriate information to a ire Service Evaluator in the juvenile’s area of residency.
- The Fire Service Evaluator will perform the risk level interview/evaluation and will formulate a fire-specific intervention plan, that may include mental health treatment and/or fire education. The fire education component may be provided by a representative of the juvenile’s local fire department.
More Info: Click Here for Mendham’s Fire Prevention website