Juvenile Firesetter Prevention Advisory Council

General Meeting

Wednesday, March10, 2010

BurlingtonCountyEmergencyServicesTrainingAcademy

Westampton,NJ

New Jersey Division of Fire Safety: Telephone (609) 324-3684Fax (609) 324-8493

Minutes of the Meeting

Attendees:(16)

Maryann Bruno, Mike Drake, Tammy DeLucca, Joe Ehrhardt, Rachelle Farese,

Lisa Gervasi, Paul Hartstein, Allan Kurdyla, Stephanie Maloney, Michelle Me Due, Stephanie Pierce, Trevor Raynor, Mike Reed, Dean Stoppiello, Robert Taylor

Division of Fire Safety Staff: Bill Kramer, Charlie Luxton

All attendees are reminded to sign in so that you will receive attendance credit as well as CEU credit if you add your DFS number.

I. Opening

Chairman Hartstein called the meeting to order at 10:15 A.M. with a salute to the flag.All members were welcomed tothe Juvenile Firesetter Prevention Advisory Council. Chairman Hartsteincontinued the meeting by having everyone in attendance introduce themselves.

II. Approval of Minutes

A correction was made to the minutes with an updated number for BurlingtonCounty. BurlingtonCounty had 15 cases for the year 2009. A motion was made to accept the minutes of the previous meeting as distributed. With no objections, the motion was voted on and approved

  1. Old Business
  1. Curriculum Sub-Committee:

Helge Nordtveitwas not at the meeting so there was no official report on the committee’s progress.

  1. Smoke Detectors:

Charlie reported that our shipment of smoke detectors for the year 2010 has not been received as of today. We expect detectors sometime in late March or early April. Once we have them, we will notify those counties above Burlington that smoke detectors are available for pick-up at the Kinder Morgan facility in Carteret according to the schedule that will be forwarded to those who request. Mike Reed added that the ABC Channel 6 smoke detector event will be next Wednesday in Philadelphia.

  1. Star Ledger Newspaper:

Joe Ehrhardt updated us on the newspaper article that is being written by the Newark Star Ledger. Tom Hayden and another reporter, Mark Bruno, have picked up on an article that appeared in a local MiddlesexCounty newspaper after Joe and Lisa Jones received a Live Time Achievement Awardat our December Conference. The paper would like to print something about our efforts in the intervention area. Joe was hopeful that the article would be a good opportunity to promote the Juvenile Firesetter Intervention programs statewide. Several people have been contacted and interviewed. Chairman Hartstein said that Andy Braig was interviewed as the spokesperson for the CamdenCounty program. (Andy invited the reporters to our meeting but they did not show up.) Mike Reed has been interviewed and Lisa Jones has been contacted for an interview. Reporter Mark Bruno spoke with Charlie Luxton and State Fire Marshal Larry Petrillo via conference call in the Directors’ office last week. Everyone at the meeting felt that the intent was to produce an article that was very positive toward what we are doing. Joe Ehrhardt mentioned that the reporters wanted to interview a child who had been through a local program. Joe said that it would most likely not be possible for that to happen here in New Jersey. Joe told the reporters that Dr. Alan Feldberg at AbraxasYouthTreatmentCenter in South Mountain, PA had been able to bring a former student to our conference in December and that may be a method for the reporters to have an interview with someone who had been through a firesetter program. (Note: Dr. Feldberg telephoned Charlie Luxton later that afternoon to inform him that contact was made by the Star Ledger and that Dr. Feldberg was thinking about how to go about granting an interview with students and the reporters at the facility in South Mountain, PA. Alan will keep Charlie posted.)

  1. State grants and/or funding:

Joe Ehrhardt updated us on a funding plan for Juvenile Firesetter Intervention programming. Joe thanked all who responded to his request for information about successful interventions with children. He is looking to get additional information from our southern counties. Joe mentioned that in terms of the legislation, they are presently at an impasse. Anyone who has information about a program speaking to a child and they feel that the intervention efforts may have prevented further misuse of fire, he needs the stories to forward to the legislation sponsors. There is a need for this to help to justify the need for the funding legislation. Please e-mail Joe at . This is very important. Please forward any information that you have to Joe at (732) 297-8991 ext. #6252.

  1. NASFM FEMA Region II Training Program

Everyone in attendance was given a flyer for the upcoming NASFM Program, Youth Fire Prevention Program “TTT”. scheduled for April 7th at the BergenCountyFireAcademy. The program will cost $20 to attend and people will be able to register on-line at Payment can be made by credit card. This will be the fourth time that we have been able to partner with NASFM and FireProof Children in training programs. Anyone who has attended a past offering knows just how valuable these programs are. All are encouraged to attend. Anyone who will be traveling more than 100 miles to attend will be able to apply for a grant from NASFM to cover lodging costs. Details are available on the web along with the registration information.

  1. JFIS I in Atlantic City

Updating the offering of Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Specialist I in Atlantic City on March 24th and 25th at AtlanticCapeCommunity College in Atlantic City proper. There will no longer be a fee to attend the program. Anyone wishing to attend should contact Chief Tom Bell of the Atlantic City Fire Department at (609) 347-5597 or e-mail.

  1. State Contact for NFA Training

The use of the new State Contract vendor for providing FEMA/NFA programs has proved to be a bit challenging at time. The original bid for our Atlantic City program was over $6000 for a program that we have historically been able to deliver for under $2500. Kent Neiswender has been able to negotiate with the vendor to a price closer to what we have paid in the past. The vendor did not wish to bid on the Atlantic City offering so we will go with what we originally planned. In the future, we may need to use this state contract approved vendor.

IV. New Business

  1. Fourth Annual Northeast Juvenile Firesetting Conference:

Rebecca Porter of the BrandonSchool has asked Charlie to pass out information about the 4th Annual Conference they are holding on April 30th and May 1st in Worcester, MA. Paul Swartzman and others who have been at our conferences in the past are scheduled to present. Everyone was given a handout. More information and registration materials are available at

  1. Kids and Bombs Seminar:

Michael Mcleieer from E.S.C.A.P.E. inc. is working with the Mass State Police Bomb Unit and Sgt. Paul Zipper to present a Kids and Bombs program in Devens,MA on April 29th. The fee to attend is $30.00 for the day and it will include lunch and beverage breaks. The flyer that was provided to all who attend the meeting will be forwarded with meeting minutes.

  1. Cornell Abraxas Residential TreatmentCenter:

Joe Erhardt advised that Dr. Alan Feldberg is attempting to get the State of New Jersey to allow residents in need of residential treatment services to be permitted to use that facility. Joe will keep us posted as the situation changes.

  1. Recognized Juvenile Firesetter Program Guidelines:

Charlie passed out a sheet containing 9 Recommended Criteria for a Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Program to meet in order to become a Recognized Program. This list was created by Andy Braig during the time we were attempting to get the Uniform Fire Code changed to require notification to a JFS program when it is discovered that a child has used fire inappropriately. There was a very lengthy discussion about how to go about establishing these requirements and how to enforce them. It was discussed that this Council does not have any authority other that in the advisory capacity. At the present time, there is no requirement to even have a Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Program let alone have one that meets minimum standards. We talked about county programs run by the mental health department and those run by the fire service. The discussion continued with Commissioner Hartstein stating that we may want a DAG to attend a meeting to help us with this issue. It was mentioned that we may want to change the way we are pursuing the funding legislation and add a requirement that each county shall establish a Juvenile Firesetter Intervention program. With a funding stream attached to the legislation, it may be more likely to gain traction. We ended the discussion with looking into the possibility of making changes to the possible legislation to include a requirement to establish a JFS program in each county. Mike Reed and Joe Erhardt will go back to the Assemblyman who they are working with and speak with his legislative aide to see if there is any interest in going that way.

  1. NJ Forest Fire Service:

Mike Drake said that NJ Forest Fire Service is looking into producing a DVD training aid for juvenile firesetter intervention for use by his members and other if they needed it. Most videos are for structural firefighting and not specific to wildland fires. Mike is look for assistance in developing this. He is looking for help in creating a script and topics. If you are interested, you can contact Mike Drake at .

  1. NJ Chapter IAAI:

Mike Reed mentioned that every year the New Jersey Chapter of the International
Association of Arson Investigators awards a $500 grant to a local or County Juvenile Firesetter program. The 2010 award was given to Atlantic City last week at the Annual General Meeting at the conference at Bally’s in Atlantic City. All are invited to apply nest year by going to the web site to look for an application.

  1. State Fire Commission Meeting:

The next scheduled State Fire Commission meeting will be at the MiddlesexCountyFireAcademy on Wednesday, March17, 2010. The public is always welcomed at Commission Meetings.

V. CountyReports:

Atlantic – No one in attendance

Bergen –No one in attendance

Burlington –1 to date (15 for 2009)

Camden –32 to date

Cape May – No one in attendance

Cumberland –No one in attendance

Essex – No one in attendance

Gloucester/Salem – No one in attendance

Hudson – No one in attendance

Mercer – No information available

Middlesex –10 to date

Monmouth – 1 to date (33 for 2009)

Morris –5 to date

Ocean – No one in attendance

Passaic –No one in attendance

Somerset –3 to date

Sussex – No one in attendance

Union – No one in attendance

Warren – No one in attendance

VI. Schedule of Next Meeting:

The next meeting of the Juvenile Firesetter Prevention Advisory Council will be 11 AM on Wednesday, May12,2010at the MiddlesexCountyFireAcademy in Sayreville, NJ.

VII. Adjournment:

With no further business to conduct, the meeting was adjourned at 11:35AM.

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