Fire Prevention

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