Incendiary: Fire setting behaviors in youth

Abstract

A 12‐year‐old boy presented for psychiatric assessment with a chief complaint of “fire setting.” The patient was reluctant to speak, however, his caregiver stated that he had set a fire in the basement of his home while the rest of the family were asleep. They were alerted due to the smoke alarm going off and were able to hurriedly contain the situation. The patient had a history of physical and emotional abuse from parents and was residing with his legal guardian, his maternal aunt.