Travis County Commissioners Court
April 26, 2005
Item 2
2. Approve resolution recognizing may 1 through may 7, 2005 as "arson awareness week" in Travis County.
>> good morning. Judge. I have a resolution to read. How are you doing? The resolution reads: whereas united states fire administration, the international association of arson investigators and the Texas state fire marshal's office have designated may 1st through the 7th, 2005, as arson awareness week in the Travis County fire March hall's office as -- marshal's office as joining with fire safety professionals from across the state during that important week to promote fire safety and the prevention of arson. Whereas because statistics have shown that 55% of all deliberately set fires are started by youths under the age of 18, the goal of this year's arson awareness week is to focus public attention on the theme of juvenile arson prevention. In the more than 40,000 incidents of youths sets fires that occur in the united states each year, over 300 lives are lost, 2,000 injuries sustained and $300 million worth of property damage. Whereas in 2003 in Texas alone it has been estimated that every 3.5 hours a fire was started by a child or children playing with fire, matches or other fire starting tools. The two common themes in most child-set fires are a lack of appropriate supervision and ready access to matches or lighters. Whereas we as texans most work to stop these preventable tragedies and make sure that our young people learn about the dangers of fire-setting behavior. To that end the Travis County fire marshal's office established the state's first county-wide juvenile fire setter intervention program with the help of the Travis County juvenile justice division, emergency services district, the city of Austin fire department and the Texas state fire marshal's office and whereas together firefighters, community leaders, educators and parents can significantly reduce the occurrence of child fire play in juvenile arson through fire safety education, careful supervision and intervention and treatment programs of all texans and all texans are encouraged to take advantage of these stunts to make our families and our -- of these opportunities to make our families and communities safer. Be he resolved that may 1st through 7th 2005 be recognized as arson awareness week and that the Travis County fire marshal's office and the fire safety professionals of this county be commended for their efforts to protect and preserve the lives and property of their citizens. I move approval.
>> second.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
>> you know who I am, I’m [indiscernible] with the fire marshal's, this is the state fire marshal, mr. Paul maldanado. You probably remember him with the city of Austin. We wonder if we could break your stride this morning and get a picture with the state fire marshal and the court.
>> okay. Bring your checkbook with you, paul?
>> I happen to have a blank check this morning. [laughter]
>> good morning, judge and Commissioners. I want to commend of course the Travis County fire marshal's office for the good work that they have been doing. I especially want to com end you for taking the initiative that you have to support the Travis County fire marshal's office and all that you have done. I know that you have many, many competing interests associated with public safety, especially in this day and age of post 9/11, so I do commend you and the Travis County Commissioners, the office, for all of the good work that they have done. Especially right now, when we are trying to recognize that arson is a continuing problem and especially as you read that it's a juvenile problem. Mostly it's 55% juvenile set fires. These fires can be prevented often just by a little bit of attention to it and in advance and -- as -- in fact the fire marshal's office have done, they have set up con corporations, working -- consortiums, working together with other groups, I look forward to supporting and helping you in any way that I can from the state fire marshal's office, thank you very much.
>> do we know why juveniles are inclined to set fires. I can see if one started accidentally. But to intentionally set one, is there some kind of motivating factor that we have been able to identify?
>> there are many variables. Of course with younger children, a lot of times it's curiosity. About how fireworks, experiment with lighters, matches, they are fascinated by it. From even the earliest of their -- of their formative years, we put birthday cakes in front of children with their first candle. And -- and they blow it out and they learn that that's a fun thing. They become infatuated with fire, they begin to play with it. They see their parents play with fire. Or as we like to refer to it as -- use it a tool to light the barbecue pit, to light the trash on fire, to do whatever you might do with matches, lighters. Children become 7 accustomed to the fact that it's okay to do. They get mom and dad's lighter, play with it, get in the closet, start something on fire. They get under the bed, they will hide and won't tell anybody what's going on until it's too late the fire is out of control. Then there are those children who may have a crisis situation in their life, whether it be a death in the family, a divorce, a problem going on at school. They act out, you know, as a way of getting attention. They use fire as a -- as a means to -- to get help, it's a cry for help. Then there are those who -- who just maliciously set fires to be mean. And the juvenile intervention program deals with all of those children and the families. There's an evaluation process. They go through to -- to find out what risk behavior category they fall in. And then there's the education process. Not only with the children, but with their parents. A lot of times that's -- that's a big part of the education is with the parents, also. It's all done together. Statistics have shown that the education portion of the -- of the intervention program is best done by fire service personnel because families and children look up to the firefighters who are in uniform and it has more of an impact, it's been tried in schools and other settings, but -- but with that particular situation it's best done by fire service personnel who actually have the hands-on and they can explain those. So in Travis County we have all come together, all of the esd's have all come together to form this whole coalition. Whether the child is from, that esd does the intervention program. And it's -- it's working. We are getting quite a few referrals. The interesting fact of the -- of the probation department even refers children to us who have come into their program for other reasons and they find out, they do an assessment on them, they find out that there's a fire setting problem. So they've had problems of where to send these children, we fill that gap for them.
>> okay. Any more discussion? All in favor? That passes unanimously.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, April 27, 2005 7:40 AM