"What kid hasn't played with fire?" asks Scranton Fire Inspector Jim Lunney.
Or, better yet, "What kid hasn't taken a pack of matches from their mother's house and lit 10 leaves on fire?" offered Lori Chieffallo, regional manager for KidsPeace and Mr. Lunney's partner in the Lackawanna County juvenile fire-setter treatment program.
Few people could probably exclude themselves from the group those questions point out - juvenile fire-setters.
But, what is different about the children Mr. Lunney and Ms. Chieffallo deal with, is that they have "stepped it up," the former said.
"And they do not realize how dangerous it is," he said.
That is why, for the last six years, Mr. Lunney and Ms. Chieffallo have run the program, which consists of a fire education component that Mr. Lunney handles and a mental health assessment component that Ms. Chieffallo handles.
Intervention
The idea, essentially, is to intervene at the court's behest and educate juveniles who have been setting fires on the danger of their furtive hobby.
Juvenile fire-setters are ordered to participate in the program soon after they are charged with an arson, Mr. Lunney explained.
The process begins with an interview conducted by both Mr. Lunney and Ms. Chieffallo, who assess the juvenile to determine "the severity of their issues - both mental health as well as the child's fire-setting behavior," Ms. Chieffallo said.
"It's very critical that we do this together," she said. "What we're trying to determine is what services does the child and family need in order to allow the child to continue to live at home and make sure the child is safe, the family's safe, the victim is safe - meaning whatever was burned - and the community is safe."
After the initial interview, Ms. Chieffallo prepares a report for either a psychiatrist or psychologist to review and from there, a recommendation on what services the child needs would be presented to Lackawanna County juvenile court.
Ordinarily, the educational element of the juvenile fire-setter program is included in the recommendations as well as mental health counseling, which varies from case to case and is referred out to other agencies, Ms. Chieffallo said.
"We look at the whole person and the environment and come up with recommendations to encompass it all," she said, adding that the court must approve the recommendations before the juvenile is ordered to abide by them.
Occasionally, a juvenile that could be accurately described as a pyromaniac will enter the program, but they are the exception.
"Most of the kids that come to us really have minor issues and require minimal intervention," Ms. Chieffallo said.
"They're just curious and they don't know any better," Mr. Lunney said.
Innocent reasons
Most of the time, the explanations behind the fires are as juvenile as the arsonists: they are looking to impress friends, to fit in, to feel like they belong, Ms. Chieffallo said.
In fact, as Mr. Lunney explained, in the six years the program has been active in Lackawanna County he has come upon only "one or two" juveniles with more significant problems associated with their fascination with fire.
What is more common, though, are children with other types of mental health issues who are in need of counseling, Ms. Chieffallo said.
Juveniles with significant issues might have to be approved by a mental health professional before starting the education portion of the program, but once a juvenile gets to that point the idea is simple.
"If they're going to play with fire, they're going to learn about it. That's my position," Mr. Lunney said.
And once they receive a bit of education, it tends to take hold.
One part of the educational part of the program - which usually lasts about a month to six weeks, meeting once a week - is a video Mr. Lunney shows the juveniles of a man who, at 14 years old, suffered burns over 95 percent of his body while playing with gasoline and matches.
"And he was a good-looking 14-year-old kid," Mr. Lunney said. "Naturally, he's disfigured - can't go swimming, can't ride a bike, can't play soccer, can't lift his arms up high, can't even put his own sneakers on. ... I put it on them. I say, 'Could that have happened to you?'â"
So far, the program seems to be working, Mr. Lunney said.
"You make them take responsibility for what they did and we haven't had one come back yet," he said.
Contact the writer: domalley@timeshamrock.com, @domalleyTT on Twitter