Children's Firesetting Interview (CFI)
Definition
A structured clinician-administered assessment instrument developed by David Kolko at the University of Pittsburgh to evaluate fire history, fire knowledge, curiosity about fire, and emotional context in juvenile fire-setters.
- Developer
- David Kolko, University of Pittsburgh
- Type
- Clinician-administered structured interview
- Assesses
- Fire history, fire knowledge, curiosity, emotional context
- Population
- Juvenile fire-setters
Common questions
How does the CFI's assessment differ from a criminal-investigative interview?+
The CFI is a clinical instrument aimed at understanding a child's fire-related behaviour, knowledge, and emotional drivers to guide intervention and risk assessment, rather than establishing legal culpability or scene reconstruction, which is the investigator's separate task.
Why does curiosity get assessed separately from pathological firesetting in the CFI?+
Distinguishing normal childhood curiosity about fire from repeated, purposeful, or distress-driven firesetting is central to deciding whether a child needs education-based intervention or more intensive clinical treatment, so the CFI scores these dimensions separately.
Related terms
- Arson Motive Classification
- The systematic categorisation of the reasons an arsonist sets a fire, most commonly using the FBI Crime Classification Manual six-category framework: vandalism,...
- ENFSI Best Practice Manual
- The European Network of Forensic Science Institutes Fire and Explosions Investigation Working Group guidance document for fire and explosion investigation across European...
- FBI Crime Classification Manual (CCM)
- A reference manual published by the FBI Behavioral Science Unit classifying crimes including arson by motive and offender behaviour pattern; the standard...
- Firesetting Risk Interview (FRI)
- A companion parent-report instrument developed alongside the Kolko CFI that provides a structured parental account of the child's fire-setting behaviour, enabling cross-validation...
- Geographic Profiling
- A spatial analysis technique originally developed by Kim Rossmo that predicts the likely home or anchor point of a serial offender from...
- Hero Arsonist
- An excitement-motivated arsonist who is also a first responder (firefighter, emergency medical technician) who sets fires to create opportunities to demonstrate competence...
- Organised vs Disorganised Fire-Setting
- A FBI CCM behavioural axis: an organised fire-setter prepares in advance, uses purposeful ignition devices, and selects the ignition point deliberately; a...
- Pyromania
- A DSM-5 impulse-control disorder characterised by deliberate and purposeful fire-setting on multiple occasions, with tension or affective arousal before the act and...
- Serial Arson
- Typically defined as three or more separate fire-setting incidents at different locations and times by the same offender, with a cooling-off period...