Extinguishing an Interest in Starting Fires : Arson: A program educates young offenders about the dangers and costs of their actions.

The little footprints leading from a suspicious-looking fire to a nearby apartment building tipped off firefighters this week that the culprits might be grade-schoolers.

Witnesses reported seeing several boys ages 10 to 12 near the blaze, which blackened about five acres of brush and threatened several homes in Laguna Niguel on Tuesday. Authorities were still searching Thursday for the youngsters.

Along with questioning the boys about the fire, investigators also want to enroll the youths in the fledgling Youth Firesetter Program, which educates kids about the dangers--and enormous costs--of playing with fire.

“Speaking as a taxpayer, why should I pay for somebody else’s kid’s stupidity?”’ said Emmy Day, Orange County Fire Authority spokeswoman.

There were no injuries in Tuesday’s fire, but county taxpayers picked up a tab of more than $2,000, Fire Capt. Dan Young said. Sixty firefighters spent about 40 minutes bringing the flames under control using a water-dropping helicopter, two 2,500-gallon water tenders and 12 engines, he said. Airborne embers from that fire sparked another blaze, which was brought under control in about 10 minutes.

Since January, Day said she has worked with 33 children as part of the prevention program. About 20 youngsters go through the program each month, with the numbers rising during summer and winter vacations, when children have more time on their hands.

The children, ranging from toddlers to 17-year-olds, and their parents typically meet with Day or another fire prevention counselor. The groups talk about the consequences of starting fires and watch a documentary film about a 15-year-old boy who started a fire that destroyed a $5-million neighborhood near San Francisco, Day said.

In that 1993 case, the boy served a two-week sentence at juvenile hall, another six months of house arrest, and his family was ordered to pay restitution for some firefighting costs, Day said. Civil suits from neighbors poured in.

“That really gets their attention,” she said. “They see the consequences.”

Juveniles were linked to 73% of the 1,500 illegally set fires in Orange County in 1992, according to the latest statistics available from the state fire marshal. Damages resulting from those fires were estimated at $4.7 million.

“We consider an arsonist to be anyone who illegally sets a fire,” Day said. “And that may include a blond-haired, blue-eyed, angelic-looking 10-year-old.”

“Ninety percent of the kids I deal with are good kids who just did something dumb. They have no long-term comprehension of what can happen and they just need to be told in a non-punitive manner.”

In 1994, a 6-year-old boy was killed in a fire his younger brother started. While their mother was asleep, the 2-year-old sparked a fire with a cigarette lighter.

Such deaths prompted county firefighters to take a different approach to teaching children about fire safety, leading to the year-old program.

“It’s still in its embryonic stage and we’re constantly developing it,” Day said. “We’re not where we want to be yet.”

For many children, the program is a sobering wake-up call. For others, their problems run much deeper and fire officials refer them to a clinical psychologist.

“These are usually kids who are very angry and have no control over whatever it is that he or she is angry at,” said Dr. Kenneth Fineman, a Huntington Beach psychologist who has worked with young firesetters since 1976.

Fineman treated a 15-year-old who donned a black ninja costume and set fires to abandoned buildings throughout Orange County a few years ago. The boy was having family problems and “just didn’t care if anyone was harmed,” Fineman said.