Our Success Stories

Every organization has their ups and downs and every programs has their goods and bads. J-FIRE has had many success stories in their time. Although we cannot divulge the names of our successful children, let me mention three children that we are very proud of .

Child # 1 had a long history of fire play. They also had many disabilities to overcome. J-FIRE volunteers met with #1 on numerous occasions, talking about the dangers of fire play. Our talks did good for a while and then #1 would go off and play with lighter or matches again. #1 did a big turn around and we are proud to say that they are no longer playing with fire, no longer worrying mom that they were going to burn the house down and #1 has been sent a certificate as a junior fire marshal for not playing with fire anymore.

Child #2 knew what to do when her house caught on fire. The babysitter got the two young brothers out safely, but #2 grabbed the phone and called 911. She gave the dispatcher all of the correct information which directed the fire department right to her home. They knew exactly where the fire was and were able to contain the fire to that part of the house. The chief and J-FIRE honored #2 at a school fire safety program for remembering what she learned in the safety house and giving the right information to the dispatcher when calling 911.

Child #3's mom called to tell us how proud she was that her child sat through an intervention after she had caught them playing with a lighter they had found in the playground. Mom wasn't sure that her child would understand the whole intervention as they were rather young. A week after the intervention #3 called mom's attention to a lighter that they found outside on the sidewalk. #3 told mom exactly what they were told to do in the family contract.  Mom said she is confident that she doesn't have to worry about her child setting her house on fire and she can sleep easier now.

These are three of our successes. There are many more. They are better than the three deaths that we had which started the program. We want to keep the successes, don't you?