What kind of children start fires?
Fires are set by children of all ages, some as young as 2 years old. More than half of the children who start fires are between the ages of 4 and 9. As children get older, the frequency of child-started fires gets smaller. Boys set more fires than girls: between 75% – 90% of fires reported to the fire service. This is consistent with other types of risk-taking behavior: Boys tend to take more risks than girls, and suffer a higher number of unintentional injuries. No single racial or ethnic group of children is more involved in fireplay or firesetting than any other They tend to reflect the racial and ethnic mix of their communities.
