U.S. Fire Administration Reducing Residential Arson National Arson Awareness Week Media Kit May 5-11, 2013 2013 Arson Awareness Week: “Reducing Residential Arson.” The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and its partners Excitement will use the week of May 5-11 to focus public attention on residential arson and provide communities with Most excitement fires are nuisance fires but may esca- tools to reduce the incidence of this crime. The goal late to homes. Excitement-motivated arsonists desire for this year’s Arson Awareness Week is to provide the thrill associated with setting the fire and relish the all residents with strategies to combat arson in their attention it brings. They rarely intend to injure people neighborhoods. but don’t have the requisite knowledge to keep the fires under control. Reducing Residential Arson: Why Arson? Revenge The motivations behind the burning of homes are curiosity, vandalism, concealing another crime, excite- According to the National Center for the Analysis of ment, revenge and insurance fraud or arson for profit. Violent Crime, the most common motive (41 percent) for a serial arsonist is revenge. An arsonist will target Curiosity the home of someone in retaliation for an actual or perceived injustice against him or her. Curiosity fires are most often set by juveniles. The mis- use of fire has many variables including age, motivation Insurance Fraud or Arson for Profit for firesetting behavior, type of fires set, ignition materi- als used to set the fire, and the child’s understanding and Arson for profit is insurance fraud, a criminal method limitations of fire. Firesetting behavior is often a symp- of obtaining money from a fire loss policy. The losses tom of the problem and may be manifested through for arson are staggering! Dennis Jay, the Executive Di- stress and crisis in children’s lives. Youth firesetting was rector for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, states, the focus for the 2012 Arson Awareness Week. “Arson schemes are dangerous and damaging. Torching homes for insurance money endangers innocent neigh- Vandalism bors and brave firefighters. These senseless insurance crimes also raise premiums for all honest homeowners Vandalism or the criminal offense of malicious mis- at a time when every penny counts. We must pour wa- chief can be the result of boredom, peer pressure ter on insurance arson.” Arson for Profit was the theme or even gang activity. Vandalism is most common at for the 2009 Arson Awareness Week campaign. abandoned or vacant homes. According to interFIRE, an online resource for arson investigation, whether Recent Examples of Arson Incidents the buildings are abandoned or vacant, more than 70 percent of the fires occurring in them are incendiary Curiosity or suspicious. In March 2013, a 6-year-old Oregon boy destroyed Concealing Another Crime his home while playing with matches. The boy and his grandparents barely escaped as smoke filled their Arson is sometimes used to mask or conceal another mobile home. No charges were filed. The young boy crime such as murder. The criminal sets the crime received counseling and fire safety education. scene ablaze hoping that the victim’s death will be at- tributed to the fire and not murder. Other crimes such as burglary and larceny are also commonly covered up by an arson fire. Arson Awareness Week 2013: Reducing Residential Arson 1 Concealing Another Crime and Arson for Profit Arson for Profit In September 2012, a Wisconsin man was intent on In January 2011, in an effort to bail himself out of burning his entire family and his home for two in- crushing debt and failed business ventures, a man in surance policy payouts. Working with his brother, the rural New York state burned down a rental house he pair lit crumbled newspaper under the man’s pregnant owned hoping to receive a windfall $277,000 insur- wife’s bed. The wife woke up and left the burning ance payout. Seeing the blaze, the woman who was house with her 2-year-old daughter. Their three sons renting the house dashed back in to rescue her cat. She perished in the blaze. Both men faced homicide and perished in the smoke and flames. His arson turned to arson charges. The man was convicted of three counts murder. An accelerant detection dog found where the of first-degree intentional homicide, one count of man had poured the gasoline in the rubble. The man’s attempted first-degree intentional homicide, and felony mounting debt and other evidence assisted the police murder and arson, which carries a mandatory life with the conviction that resulted in a sentence of 25 sentence. He also testified against his brother. The man years to life in prison for his murderous arson. was given three life sentences. Arson Attack Against Former Girlfriend Arson to Cover Up Murder In 2009, a Colorado man was sentenced to two con- In August 2010, an Idaho man was sentenced to 40 secutive life sentences for setting fire to a Colorado years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary man- Springs apartment complex and killing two residents. slaughter and arson in the death of his pregnant wife The January 2007 fire destroyed the entire 135-unit, and their unborn infant. Local authorities asked the three-story facility, injured numerous other residents, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and resulted in at least $10 million in damages. (ATF) to join the investigation days after the incident. Given the scope of the fire, the ATF National Response During the investigation, ATF investigators determined Team was called in to investigate the scene by the that the fire was incendiary in nature and that it started Colorado Bureau of Investigations and the Colorado in a northwest bedroom. After he was presented with Springs Fire Department. Prosecutors said the cause of the results of ATF’s investigation, the defendant pleaded the fire was incendiary and stated that the defendant guilty to voluntary manslaughter charges for killing his started the fire in an attempt to kill his former girl- wife and unborn child and to first-degree arson for set- friend who lived at the complex. ting their apartment on fire. Before he was sentenced, the defendant apologized for killing his wife and child During the investigation, ATF’s Fire Research Laborato- in 2009, but he did not explain why he committed the ry (FRL) constructed a multiple-story, full-scale mock- crimes. up of one wing of the building and ran a series of test “burns” to determine the likely area where the fire Arson for Profit started. The FRL conducted numerous computer sim- ulations to provide insight into the behavior of the fire In December 2011, a California couple wanted to burn inside the building. At the conclusion of their investi- down their rickety home for insurance money. They gation, ATF personnel stated that the fire started just hired someone to burn their house down. Unfortu- outside the apartment where the defendant’s former nately, the hired arsonist was an amateur, and after he girlfriend was staying. spread dangerously large amounts of gasoline around the place, he accidently blew up the house killing him- Revenge self in the process. The husband received 14 years and four months in state prison for insurance fraud, man- In June 2009, a Maine man set fire to a coffee shop in slaughter for the death of the arsonist, and arson. His jealous revenge because his former girlfriend was dat- wife received six years for fraud. ing the coffee shop owner. The man was convicted and received the maximum sentence of 30 years because the fire was set after midnight, 10 gallons of gasoline were used as an accelerant, and people were living in the building at the time. Arson Awareness Week 2013: Reducing Residential Arson 2 Residential Arson Facts Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (2008-2010) National Fire Incident Reporting System • There were 11,436 fire incidents involving residen- USFA’s National Fire Incident Reporting System tial properties reported in the Bomb Arson Track- (NFIRS) reports an estimated 16,800 intentionally set ing System (BATS). fires in residential buildings occur annually in the United States. These fires result in an estimated 280 • These incidents resulted with an estimated aggre- deaths, 775 injuries and $593 million in property loss gate monetary loss in excess of $197 million, with each year. 385 persons injured and 157 killed. • Five percent of all residential building fires were • The vast majority of residential arson occurs in intentionally set. one- and two-family dwellings, representing a little over 71 percent. • Lighters (22 percent), heat from other open flame or smoking materials (19 percent), and matches (15 • Over 26 percent of all the identified residential percent) were the leading heat sources of intention- arsons were occupied and operating at the time ally set fires in residential buildings. of the event, while almost 14 percent were vacant (both secured and unsecured). • The majority (76 percent) of intentionally set fires in residential buildings occurred in one- or Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime two-family dwellings. An additional 19 percent of Reporting Program fires occurred in multifamily dwellings. • Statistics showed that 14,717 law enforcement • Forty-one percent of the intentionally set residen- agencies reported 43,412 arsons. tial fires occurred in vacant buildings. • Arsons involving single occupancy and other • Rubbish, trash and waste (8 percent); magazines, residential structures accounted for 29.3 percent newspapers and writing paper (7 percent); and (12,720) of the total number of arson offenses. uncontained flammable liquids or gas (6 percent) were the items most often first ignited in intention- • Preliminary FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data ally set fires in residential buildings.