Outside of fire service and mental health circles, juvenile firesetting is a relatively little-known problem. Although, fire-play and arson involving children results in roughly 760 deaths and $1.2B in damage annually. In the mid-1990s, the discussions began from various agencies across the State of Florida about taking more aggressive steps toward addressing this growing problem. In 2004, the first statewide coalition-building meetings began, involving the representatives from the State Fire Marshal's Office, as well as various fire, social services and law enforcement agencies from around Florida.

In these meetings, the need was identified for more common resources to be available statewide. Unfortunately, many jurisdictions did not possess the personnel, expertise or funds to operate programs utilizing best practices to adequately treat juvenile firesetters. So, for three more years, the concept of having unified, statewide resources for tackling juvenile arson and fire-play remained only a dream.

Until a chance meeting in 2007 between Vistalogix Corporation and members of the Florida Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association. In only a few brief discussions, a path was identified to bring these dreams to reality. This path, however, was not without significant challenges: First, with budgets tightening, funding could not be provided by the state. Additionally, the available grant funding would require the solution to be built on an incredibly small budget and within an unheard of timeframe for a project of its scale.

After just a year to build the software, and two years of being in use, Florida's statewide program was recognized for its success during FEMA's 2012 National Arson Awareness Week. "I didn't think I'd see this happen during my tenure." remarked Chief Charles Raiken, Fire Marshal with the Broward Sheriff's Office Fire Rescue Division and project overseer for the FFMIA.