Red Flags (Warning Signs)

ABOUT THE CHILD:

• Child has ADHD and family is having trouble managing this problem
  
• Child has had firesafety education, knows that firesetting is wrong and is 8 or older
  
• Child has been severly punished for firesetting
  
• Child is the victim of physical, emotional or sexual abuse
  
• Child experiences an anxiety release from fires
  
• Child has intense feelings of powerlessness or has trouble controlling impulses
  
• Child is a member of a gang or has a history of aggressive criminal behaviors
  
• Child relies extensively on thinking errors and is extremely uncooperative with assessment
  
• Child has been unsuccessfully treated for firesetting; the family is unable or unwilling to support intervention

• Bed or bedroom fire
  
• Fires are set to specific materials related to stress
  
• Recent changes in the family
  
• Chronic history of firesetting with progression
  
• Bizarre or ritualistic firesetting
  
• Uses fire to torture/injure animals, self or others
  
• Obsessive/compulsive fire thoughts/behaviors

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