Firefighter Arson

Words: 1516
Pages: 7

Did you know that there is an estimated 283,000 fires intentionally set in the United States of America each year? Arson is a serious crime and that “it is the number one cause of all fires and annually kills hundreds of Americans, injures thousands more and causes billions in property damage each year.”(IFSTA) Arson is defined as the crime of intentionally and maliciously setting fires to structures, wild land areas, vehicles or other property damage with the intent to cause damage.
The purpose of this paper is to enlighten people who have little to no knowledge about the serious crime known as arson and the more serious crime that is firefighter arson. Firefighters are supposed to be the good guys who run into structures on fire to save
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Communication lines must be kept available to anyone so that firefighters can feel safe enough to convey any information that they might have seen or heard from other members. Fire departments should also require background checks of all the new incoming members to the fire service to see if they have a criminal record or anything on them that might be detrimental to their integrity to the service. In addition to background checks, new members should also sign an affidavit swearing that they will not set fires while they are with the department and that they also have not been convicted or suspected of arson. Publically shaming firefighter arsonist may also be a good deterrent to prevent new firebugs from springing up because of all the shame that they will bring to the fire department will also be brought to the firefighter arsonist’s family. All fire department policies should be strictly enforced so that no shame will be brought unto the fire …show more content…
Arsonist set fires deliberately for various reasons such as money, vanity, gang related crimes and to destroy evidence of another crime such as homicide. With the financial crisis of 2007-8 which is said to have been the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression by many economists, many business owners began to default on their payments and were left with a huge amount of debt. A lot of business’s closed down and some business owners began to set their business ablaze to collect on their insurance premiums, which is considered insurance fraud by law. Unemployment skyrocketed and homeowners were in a losing battle against their mortgages, so numerous amounts of people also began to collect on their insurance premiums when they set their vehicle ablaze or damaged it to a certain extent where their insurance would pay them out. In addition to considering arson for insurance money is that many arsonist are plain narcissist whom start fires out of vanity. Narcissist feel a need for psychological self gratification and when they set fires, they take enjoyment from seeing structures or wild land areas destroyed by their handiwork. Arsonists feel great pride in their work and take joy in seeing the aftermath of it all. Fire can be considered a great tool by many ecosystem management officials, but sick minded individuals will use anything in their power to cause