Remember the Fire Department's honored arson investigator who set fires and killed someone in the process?He did it to show how clever he was.Firestarters are sick and not necessarily muslim terrorists.Accidents are just dumb actions by the unthinking.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/3276537p-4302970c.html Fire expertise often root of arson
By Mareva Brown -- Bee Staff Writer
As sure as the dry season brings fire to the West's hilltops and mountainsides, firefighters know that the natural blazes will attract another threat: arsonists.
And with their appearance, investigators acknowledge a sad truism -- often those most successful at setting blazes are somehow linked to a fire service agency.
It has happened in Colorado, where an 18-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service was charged Wednesday with intentionally setting what has become the nation's most ferocious blaze this year and the largest in Colorado history. Since June 8, more than 135,000 acres and 22 homes have burned, and more than 7,500 people have been evacuated.
It happened last week in Sacramento, when a former military firefighter allegedly set two fields ablaze and may be linked to nine more arsons in the area that same day.
"When we get a lot of fires, it inspires the arsonists to come out of the woodwork," said Karen Terrill, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "And when they have a knowledge of fire behavior, you can't help but wonder if they have some kind of experience in the fire service."
In California, wildland arsonists were responsible for an average of 392 blazes annually over the past five years, according to forestry department statistics. The fires burned an average of more than 21,000 acres per year.
CDF doesn't track how many fires are started by firefighters or others with a link to the fire service.
The damage arsonists cause is disproportionate to the number of blazes they ignite. In 1992, for example, arsonists lit 13 percent of the state's wildfires but caused 67 percent of the damage -- $114 million.
Some arsonists are motivated to burn buildings or other property for financial profit or revenge, but wildland arsonists usually are not driven by money.
For years, arson investigators have found that most arsonists fit a similar profile:
Typically, they are young, male loners who thrill to see the chaos and excitement that a blaze generates. In some cases, they may participate as rescuers. Firefighters call them "vanity arsonists."