John Malast
Supervising Fire Marshal
A Fire Unit Counsels Troubled Young Arsonists
Jan. 29, 1989
The New York Times Archives
Rupert Callender leaned over a small table in his makeshift trailer home, explaining to a visiting fire marshal why he thought his 8-year-old son Danny had burned down their ramshackle house in Little Neck, Queens, last month.
A few feet away, another marshal sat on a couch listening to Danny describe the nightmares he has about the fire, which nearly killed his father. As they searched for clues about Danny's behavior, the marshals seemed more like psychiatrists than firefighters.
And in some ways they are. That is because the two, Thomas J. Williams and
John Malast, are not typical fire marshals. As members of the New York City Fire Department's Juvenile Firesetters Intervention Program, they are trained to deal with young arsonists.
The program, begun in November 1986 in the Bronx, offers young arsonists up to age 11 an alternative to arrest. After it is determined that a child has started a fire, the family is interviewed and evaluated by a pair of marshals. If necessary, they refer the child to community agencies for counseling or psychiatric care. Misses His Mother
The New York program is one of several that have been organized nationwide in response to a steady increase in the number of juvenile arsonists. While it has no precise figures, the National Fire Protection Association, a private 40,000-member group, estimates that children between the ages of 7 and 18 accounted for 40 percent of arson arrests in the United States last year.
Shortly after arriving at the Callender home, the fire marshals learned that Danny has been unhappy since his mother Audrey, who has been separated from Mr. Callender for six years, moved to Puerto Rico last summer. Danny was especially depressed that she did not come home for Christmas.
''He misses her very much,'' said Mr. Callender, a postal worker who suffers from diabetes and asthma.
Danny's unhappiness almost led to disaster on Dec. 29. He was alone in his room at 10 P.M., playing with his mother's cigarette lighter - one of the few objects she had left behind - when suddenly the top floor of the house went up in flames. Deaths Were an Inspiration
''The lighter reminded me of my mother,'' Danny told the marshals as he described how he had rolled the lighter on his rug and started the fire. He escaped along with his father; a 13-year-old brother, John, and a boarder. Mr. Callender's head was severely burned.
Since the program began, 353 children have been interviewed. Only three have set fires since meeting with the marshals, said James D. McSwigin, who is the program's founder and director.
''We may not be able to stop the first fire, but we're very successful in stopping the second,'' he said.
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Mr. McSwigin is no stranger to juvenile arson. When he became a New York City fire marshal in 1978, his first arrest was of a 12-year-old boy who had set a Bronx apartment building ablaze. The boy hanged himself hours after he was arraigned and released.
''That made me realize that there must be a better way to deal with these young kids than to just arrest them,'' said Mr. McSwigin, who is 49 years old and whose own brother, sister-in-law and two of their children were killed in a fire on Long Island two years ago.
But it was the death of a fellow firefighter, Capt. James F. McDonnell, in a Bronx blaze started by a 4-year-old boy in 1985 that prompted Mr. McSwigin to start the program. 'Old-Fashioned Outreach'
Shortly after the program was approved, staff psychologists at Bellevue Hospital Center pored over applications from more than 70 fire marshals.
The 18 men selected work in shifts around the clock in the Bronx as well as in Queens, where an office was opened in October.
''In a weird sense, what they're doing is old-fashioned outreach,'' said Arnold Korotkin, who has worked closely with the program as Bronx coordinator for the New York City Department of Mental Health. ''A lot of these children are from single-parent families, and the marshals come in as father figures who get the parents and kids to bring out all sorts of problems and concerns.''
Some children set fires simply out of curiosity, while others use them to gain attention, experts said. Marshals in the New York program have found that the most abused and desparate children often set fires as a cry for help.
Despite the program's success, it may be jeopardized if the Fire Department's budget is cut. Fiscal Problems
Mr. McSwigin said he has been told by his superiors that the program, which costs about $600,000, will be on the chopping block in February when Mayor Edward I. Koch announces his proposed budget for New York City.
But the Fire Commissioner, Joseph F. Bruno, said the entire program will not be discontinued even if there are severe cutbacks in the department's budget.
''We won't know what will ultimately happen to the program until the Mayor announces his budget,'' Mr. Bruno said. ''It all depends on how deep the budget cuts must be.''
During their visits with families in the program, one marshal interviews the parents while the other shows the child a series of photographs of a fire's consequences. The first pictures depict objects like a burning candle and are followed by more grim photographs of a scorched teddy bear and a charred 10-year-old boy. The marshals and the parents then discuss counseling for the child. The marshals' work usually ends once they leave the home.
In Danny Callender's case, the two marshals recommended psychiatric therapy. Mr. Callender welcomed the suggestion. And as the marshals prepared to leave his trailer, he began to reflect on brighter prospects.
''I can always replace the house,'' he said. ''But I can never replace Daniel.''