In North Carolina, one firefighter would set fire to an occupied house, and then return to the scene and rescue the family. His need for excitement, being worshiped, and getting attention predominated over any concern about the terrible danger to which he exposed the occupants.
In 2003 the United States Fire Administration released a report on firefighter motivated fires. The report provided statistics of the number of firefighter arson, the effect on the community and methods states are utilizing to recognize and combat potential fire personnel arsonists.
The report also included a profile compiling the common traits exhibited by firefighter arsonists as well a comparison with non fire service arsonists. Traits specific to fire service arsonists were the need to be seen as a hero, to practice extinguishing fires, or to earn extra money. Firefighters that have this desire to be heroes fall under one of six classifications of arsonists labeled as Excitement-motivated.
Firefighters [sic] known to set fires so they can engage in the suppression effort. Firefighter arsonists who seek recognition, or wish to be viewed as heroes, may set and “discover” the fires.
Original Article can be found here Special Report: Firefighter Arson
The prevalence of firefighter arson is unknown as the article points out that there has been little record of how many fires were started by fire service personnel. It was also pointed out that there was little training and awareness of firefighter arson within fire service organizations and that there are very few states are pushing for criminal background checks for fire department membership.
To go so far as to say that fire service personnel should be screened just as law enforcement personnel does not sound impractical. Some may compare corrupt law enforcement officers to firefighter arsonists pointing out that even corrupt law enforcement personnel are able to pass the exhaustive screening processes. But one should realize that the majority (majority should be emphasized as police corruption and fire personnel arson is viewed in a case by case basis) of corrupt law enforcement officers become corrupt due to environmental factors (greed, cynicism, etc.) that influence them after they become sworn whereas the excitement-motivated firefighter arsonists, driven by psychological factors, may be easier to detect through psychological evaluations of hiring process.
Like corrupt law enforcement officials, it should be noted that firefighter arson is serious but it is only committed by small number of individuals compared to many more who do not abuse their privileges.
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2 comments:
I agree to say that it may be easier to detect such arsonist by looking at the applicants
psychological background. Their was a book that Professor, Vizzard made us read in his investigations class, "Fire Lover", about a fire fighter arsonist, the book was very good. I remember one of the things he said he liked about setting the fires was the power to create something so big from doing a small action. The arsonist was eventually caught obviously. One piece of evidence that helped detectives find him as asuspect is by learning about a book this arsonist was writing during the times of these fires. The arsonist said that his book is related to the fires and tells stories on how they MAY HAVE happened putting himself in the arsonist shoes, but turns out it is basically a biography about his obsession for fires. The book costs well over a hundred or two hundred dollars.
I looked up the book and then looked up on who it was originally about (John Leonard Orr). I was not aware of him even though he is considered one of the most notorious arsonists of all time. It would have been nice if the United States Fire Administration report covered his case as I am curious about what was his motivation for starting fires.
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