KENNEBUNK - Setting a fire is a sure-fire way of getting attention from the adults around you, and kids set fires for a number of reasons.  Juvenile fire setting is a serious problem but it is one that can be effectively dealt with through education.

The problem is much more widespread than Harmony Gagnier thought when she took the position as the first full-time director of the York County Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention Collaborative.

Gagnier says that she has been with the collaborative for six months but the county-wide program started two years ago.  To date, 40 juveniles have gone through its fire safety school.

"A lot of people don't know how dangerous fire setting is," Gagnier said, "and there are people who want to sweep it under the rug.  When a fire setter comes to us, it's not the first time he or she has set a fire."

Kids set fires for a number of reasons but typically they can be divided into four categories: curiosity, delinquent, crisis, and pathological.

Fire setting is an effective way to get attention and a powerful way in which kids can act out their confusion, anger, curiosity, or fear.

"No one's going to turn their back on a kid who burned down a house,"  Gagnier said.  "Some parents won't accept [that their kid set a fire] but most want their kids to get help.  I love it when the parents go [to the meetings] so the responsibility [is accepted] as a family thing and not just the kid's."

There are different levels within the fire safety school with curriculum addressing basic, intermediate, and advanced skill levels.

The younger children who tend to set fires out of curiosity without understanding the consequences of their actions would benefit from the basic level.  A child setting crisis-related fires in reaction to a specific event such as a death, a move, a new sibling, or sexual abuse would be referred to a curriculum of a different level.

Dumpster fires, which have been an ongoing problem in Kennebunk's Lower Village, tend to be set by older juveniles in groups responding to peer pressure, she said.

"You don't see one kid lighting a dumpster fire."

"When the kids come to fire school, they feel good [that their] issues are being recognized as important," Gagnier said.

The school with the age based curriculum taking the mystery out of fire, is broken down into four two-hour sessions over a month long period.

Teaching children that fire is a tool and not a toy is far more effective than simply telling children to stay away from lighters, although keeping lighters, matches, and grill lighters away from children is still a good idea, Gagnier said.

She has a list of fire setters aged five years old and younger, including a four-year old who burned down the family home.  Kids are referred to the program by parents, school and fire officials and are interviewed by Gagnier and an assessment team made up of social workers and psychologists.

The young fire setters are either sent on to the fire safety school or, in more serious cases where accelerants are an issue or they are deemed pathological fire setters, they are referred to the courts.

The context for fire setting behavior considered by the assessment team includes information about the child, the fire, the environment in which the fire is set, and the reaction to the child's fire setting in that environment.

Gagnier said that she is available to present programs on fire safety with a firefighter along to answer technical questions for youngsters from daycare through high school.  Gagnier's office is located in Kennebunk's Central Station,  Kennebunk Fire Chief Stephen Nichols, Sr. having offered her the office space.  She travels all over the county, however, and can be reached at 985-2102, ext. 1357.