Firefighters and school counselors are learning how to deal with youth that have lit or talked about lighting fires.
Yakima firefighters hosted guest speaker Sedric Ketchum from the U.S. Fire Administration Thursday morning -- Ketchum showed the group how to properly interview youth following acts of arson.
The goal is to be able to properly educate youth on the issue, and find out the root cause of their actions.
"This is a problem that is nationwide, not just in [Yakima's] community, but the education is not nationwide," said Ketchum, "[Yakima] has realized that in this city, we need the education, and we're going to bring whoever it needs to be to bring this training to us."
After receiving their certification today, counselors now have the ability to interview with youth before investigators arrive, making the investigation process smoother.