Arson

Arson is the crime of intentionally and deliberately burning or charring property. Someone who does this is called an arsonist, and if they do it repeatedly, they may be labeled a serial arsonist. While arson most often involves buildings, the term also covers the purposeful burning of vehicles, boats, or forests.

This act is different from pyromania, which is a mental disorder marked by an obsession with fire. In fact, most arsonists are not pyromaniacs. Some legal systems also distinguish arson from reckless burning, which occurs when a fire that causes death, property damage, or injury is started through carelessness or neglect rather than intent.

People set fires for many reasons. Arson can happen during riots, civil unrest, ethnic cleansing, or war. It may be an act of terrorism, a way to commit insurance fraud for financial gain, or a source of emotional satisfaction—such as when a firefighter sets fires for personal entertainment, revenge, or to conceal another crime like robbery or murder. Accelerants like gasoline or kerosene are often used to start, fuel, and direct the flames. Detecting leftover traces of these liquids is a key part of fire investigations.

The word "arson" comes from Law French *arsoun* (late 1200s), which traces back through Old French *arsion* to Late Latin *ārsiōnem* (meaning "a burning"), from the verb *ardēre* ("to burn"). In Old English, the term was *bærnet*, literally "burning." Edward Coke used the phrase "indictment of burning" in 1640, and the word "arsonist" first appeared in 1864.

Motivations for arson are varied and have been documented for centuries. In scholarly work, it is sometimes called "fire setting." Profiling arsonists is difficult due to the wide range of motives, small study groups, and differing definitions across legal, social, and psychological fields. During riots, people may set fires as vandalism, or during civil disorder or ethnic cleansing as an act of war, terrorism, or political protest. For example, after sporting events in some cities, cars, dumpsters, and buildings are sometimes set ablaze. Fires can also provide cover for retreating or advancing military forces, as seen when the Iraqi military set fires while retreating from Kuwait in 1991. Groups like the Provisional IRA and the Women's Social and Political Union have used arson as political violence. In the recent Myanmar civil war, the military junta burned homes to drive out urban combatants. Conversely, arson or the threat of it has been used as a false flag or smear tactic against activists, as in the cases of Marinus van der Lubbe and Martin Sostre.

Financial gain is another common motive. In 2019, a married couple and four co-conspirators were arrested and convicted for a series of home, business, and warehouse fires over four years. They left chicken in turned-on deep fryers to make the fires look like cooking accidents, then filed insurance claims for the buildings and smoke-damaged goods. Their scheme netted about $4 million before they were caught.

Emotional satisfaction also drives some arsonists. Firefighter arsonists, like investigator John Leonard Orr, have been convicted of setting fires for personal entertainment or due to hero syndrome. Others set fires as revenge against a landlord, employer, friend, or relative, often underestimating how fast a fire can spread. The Dupont Plaza Hotel fire, which killed 99 people, started when three striking workers set fire to a storeroom of new furniture. The flames flashed over, ignited the ballroom, and soon engulfed the hotel. In 1994, artist Lisa Lopes accidentally burned down her shared mansion after setting fire to her partner’s sneakers in a bathtub. Many deadly fires have started during or after arguments.

Some arson occurs during a psychotic episode caused by delusions or hallucinations. In such cases, the person may be found criminally insane and sent to a psychiatric hospital rather than prison. Arson is also used to conceal other crimes like robbery or murder, though these attempts often fail to hide evidence of blunt trauma, stab wounds, or gunshot wounds. Medical examiners can check if a victim was alive during a fire by testing for soot in the esophagus, lungs, or mouth.

Legal definitions of arson vary around the world. In many countries, including Commonwealth nations and France, arson is a type of criminal property damage, with harsher penalties when human lives are endangered. Scotland, for example, separates the act into "wilful fire raising" (damage to property) and "culpable and reckless conduct" (injury to a person). Under English common law, arson was defined as "the malicious burning of the dwelling of another," but that specific offense was abolished in England and Wales in 1971.