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Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercraft, or forests. The crime is typically classified as a felony, with instances involving risk to human life or property carrying a stricter penalty. Arson that results in death can be further prosecuted as manslaughter or murder. A common motive for arson is to commit insurance fraud.[1][2][3] In such cases, a person destroys their own property by burning it and then lies about the cause in order to collect against their insurance policy.[4]
 | The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (June 2021) |
A person who commits arson is referred to as an arsonist, or a serial arsonist if the person has committed arson several times. Arsonists normally use an accelerant (such as gasoline or kerosene) to ignite, propel, and direct fires, and the detection and identification of ignitable liquid residues is an important part of fire investigations.[5] Pyromania is an impulse control disorder characterized by the pathological setting of fires.[6] Most acts of arson are not committed by pyromaniacs.[6]
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The term derives from Law French arsoun (late 13th century), from Old French arsion, from Late Latin ārsiōnem "a burning," (acc.) from the verb ardēre, "to burn."[7][8][9] "Malicious burning of property," 1670s, from Anglo-French arsoun (late 13c.), Old French arsion, from Late Latin arsionem (nominative arsio) "a burning," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin ardere "to burn" (from PIE root *as- "to burn, glow").[10]
The Old English term was bærnet, lit. "burning"; and Edward Coke has indictment of burning (1640). Arsonist is from 1864.[11]
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English Common Law defines arson as "the malicious burning of the dwelling of another."[12]
This definition has four elements:
- Malicious
- For purposes of common law arson, "malicious" refers to intention of starting the fire. Fires can be started on purpose or by accident. In either case, there is legal precedent charge the guilty person with arson whether their intention was to start a fire or not. "Malicious" in this case is describing the intention of the arsonist as ill-intentioned and intending to cause harm or death.
- Burning
- According to common law charring to any part of dwelling was sufficient to satisfy this element. No significant amount of damage to the dwelling was required. Any injury or damage to the structure caused by exposure to heat or flame is sufficient.
- Of the dwelling
- 'Dwelling' refers to a place of residence. The destruction of an unoccupied building was not considered arson: "... since arson protected habitation, the burning of an unoccupied house did not constitute arson." At common law a structure did not become a residence until the first occupants had moved in, and ceased to be a dwelling if the occupants abandoned the premises with no intention of resuming their residency.[13] Dwelling includes structures and outbuildings within the curtilage.[14] Dwellings were not limited to houses. A barn could be the subject of arson if occupied as a dwelling.
- Of another
- Burning one's own dwelling does not constitute common law arson, even if the purpose was to collect insurance, because "it was generally assumed in early England that one had the legal right to destroy his own property in any manner he chose".[15] Moreover, for purposes of common law arson, possession or occupancy rather than title determines whose dwelling the structure is.[14] Thus a tenant who sets fire to his rented house would not be guilty of common law arson,[14] while the landlord who set fire to a rented dwelling house would be guilty.
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Many U.S. state legal systems and the legal systems of several other countries divide arson into degrees, depending sometimes on the value of the property but more commonly on its use and whether the crime was committed in the day or night.
- First-degree arson – Burning an occupied structure such as a school or a place where people are normally present
- Second-degree arson – Burning an unoccupied building such as an empty barn or an unoccupied house or other structure in order to claim insurance on such property
- Third-degree arson – Burning an abandoned building or an abandoned area, such as a field, forest or woods.
Many statutes vary the degree of the crime according to the criminal intent of the accused. Some US states use other degrees of arson, such as "fourth" and "fifth" degree,[16] while some states do not categorize arson by any degree. For example, in the state of Tennessee, arson is categorized as "arson" and "aggravated arson."
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A common motive for arson is to commit insurance fraud. In such cases, a person destroys their own property by burning it and then lies about the cause in order to collect against their insurance policy.
An example of insurance fraud being the motivating factor for an act of arson is the case for Operation Firebird.[17] A married couple and 4 co-conspirators were arrested and convicted with arson and insurance fraud after a string of home, business, and warehouse fires which took place between 2014 and 2018 were exposed as acts of arson. Using chicken left in boiling frying oil, the convicted criminals would make fire seem like a cooking accident. Then, the group committed insurance fraud by filing insurance claims for the cost of the building, as well as, smoke-damaged goods to claim fire damages for insurance payouts. The group's scheme claimed a reported $4 million and ended when authorities were tipped off as to where the location of the next planned incident would take place. Police then performed an investigation dubbed Operation Firebird with the San Jose Fire Department. According to a 2019 Press Release from the California Department of Insurance, Tyler and Kim Chen, Ha Nguyen, Sandy Ngo, Duyen Pham, and Trang Huynh were all convicted with various degrees of arson and insurance fraud.
Tyler Chen was convicted with five separate counts of arson and two separate counts of insurance fraud in Santa Clara County in 2018. Tyler Chen's wife, Kim Chen, was convicted with two counts of insurance fraud in Santa Clara county.[18]
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United States
In the United States, the common law elements of arson are often varied in different jurisdictions. For example, the element of "dwelling" is no longer required in most states, and arson occurs by the burning of any real property without consent or with unlawful intent.[19] Arson is prosecuted with attention to degree of severity[20] in the alleged offense. First degree arson[21] generally occurs when people are harmed or killed in the course of the fire, while second degree arson occurs when significant destruction of property occurs.[22] While usually a felony, arson may also be prosecuted as a misdemeanor,[23] "criminal mischief", or "destruction of property."[24] Burglary also occurs, if the arson involved a "breaking and entering".[25] A person may be sentenced to death if arson occurred as a method of homicide, as was the case in California of Raymond Lee Oyler and in Texas of Cameron Todd Willingham.
After the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, the United States started a National Fire Prevention Week in order to educate the people on ways to prevent fires, minimize their damages, and hopefully drastically decrease casualties.[26] Fire
Prevention Week campaigns includes various information on safe cooking practices pertaining to grilling, microwaving, and cooking on a stove.
During World War II arson was a much higher concern in the United States. There was a severe lack of firefighters due to the fact most of the men were overseas to fight the war. There were few men left behind to help combat forest fires. For example, during WW II in Eldora, Iowa a fire chief reported that his regular membership shrank from 21 to 9 men and their fire fighting force recruited retired members and new members to fill the missing positions during the war.[27] Although there were few attempts to burn U.S. forests, it continued to be a big concern due to the potential detrimental effects. This concern for arson attempts led to the rise of Smokey Bear who was the face of fire prevention and fire safety measures.[28][29] Although the intention of Smokey Bear's persona is to encourage fire safety, Smokey shares a message of fire prevention which includes accidental fires that can sometimes be legally charged as arson.
In New York, arson is charged in five degrees. Arson in the first degree is a Class A-1 felony and requires the intent to burn the building with a person inside using an explosive incendiary device. In New York, the criminal charge of arson includes a maximum sentence of 25 years to life.[30]
In California, a conviction for arson of property that is not one's own is a felony punishable by up to three years in state prison. Aggravated arson, which carries the most severe punishment for arson, is punishable by 10 years to life in state prison. A well-known example of arson which took place in California is the Esperanza Fire. Raymond Lee Oyler was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to death for a 2006 fire in southern California that led to the deaths of five U.S. Forest Service firefighters; he was the first U.S. citizen to receive such a conviction and penalty for wildfire arson.[31]
Some states, such as California, prosecute the lesser offense of "reckless burning" when the fire is set recklessly as opposed to willfully and maliciously. The study of the causes is the subject of fire investigation. A recent example of a reckless burning offense is the El Dorado fire which took place in 2020 in California. This fire was caused by a gender reveal party which utilized a smoke bomb which is categorized as unsafe pyrotechnics. The El Dorado fire burned over a 71-day period, destroyed 20 structures and resulted in one firefighter fatality, for which the couple hosting the party were charged with involuntary manslaughter.[32] The Esperanza Fire ultimately resulted in the death of firefighter Charles "Charlie" Morton, who became trapped while attempting to fight the fire. The DA of California considered arson charges for the family members as they were deemed negligent with regard to fire safety.[33]
England
In English law, arson was a common law offence (except for the offence of arson in royal dockyards)[34] dealing with the criminal destruction of buildings by fire. The common law offence was abolished by s.11(1) of the Criminal Damage Act 1971.[35] The 1971 Act makes no distinction as to mode of destruction except that s.1(3) requires that if the destruction is by fire, the offence is charged as arson; s.4 of the Act provides a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for conviction under s.1 whether or not the offence is charged as arson. In Hong Kong, the common law offence was abolished by s 67 of the Crimes Ordinance 1971 (Part VIII of which, as amended by Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 1972,[36] mirrored the English Criminal Damage Act 1971).[37] Like the English counterparts, 63 of the 1972 Ordinance provides a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, and s 60(3) of the Ordinance requires that if the damage is by fire the offence should be charged as arson.
Myanmar
In the Burmese legal system, arson is considered "mischief by fire" under sections 435 and 436 of the Myanmar Penal Code and punishable by fine and imprisonment.[38] The statutes were last amended on 1 July 2016, and made arson on houses and buildings punishable with up to 20 years in prison.[38]
The Burmese military has long used arson as a weapon of war against civilians.[39][40] From the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état to August 2022, military forces committed arson on 28,434 houses in the country.[41]
Scotland
While the Scottish legal system has no offence known as arson statutorily defined, there are many offences that are used to charge those with acts that would normally constitute arson in other nations. Events constituting arson in English and Welsh law might be dealt with as one or more of a variety of offences such as wilful fire-raising, culpable and reckless conduct, vandalism or other offences depending on the circumstances of the event. The more serious offences (in particular wilful fire-raising and culpable and reckless conduct) can incur a sentence of life imprisonment.
Ireland
Ireland differentiates how it charges arson not by degree but rather by what is being destroyed and if anyone was harmed.[42] For example, while the sentence for setting fire to a building can be life imprisonment, the sentence for setting fire to goods in a building can only be up to fourteen years.
A notable historical act of arson in Ireland is the burning of Wildgoose Lodge, which resulted in the arrest, sentencing, and execution of 18 men, many of whom were innocent.[43] More recently, the 2023 Dublin riot involved instances of arson, with many such acts targeting vehicles.
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- Herostratus, accused of setting fire to the Temple of Artemis in 356 BCE.
- Zayd ibn Musa al-Kazim, was characterized a pogrom against the supporters of the Abbasids in 815 and 816, which earned him the nickname Zayd al-Nar ('Zayd of the Fire') due to the large numbers of houses belonging to Abbasid family members or their followers that he torched.[44]
- Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin, Irish nobleman and soldier, known as Murchadh na dTóiteán ("Murrough the Burner") for his role in the Sack of Cashel and other similar atrocities during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
- Margaret Clark set a home on fire in London in 1680.
- David Berkowitz, American serial killer who was also implicated in many unsolved arsons in the New York City in the 1970s.
- Peter Dinsdale, confessed to a total of 11 acts of arson, pleading guilty to 26 counts of manslaughter. The fires were set from 1972 to 1979.
- John Leonard Orr, as arson investigator for the Glendale, CA fire department who set over 2,000 Los Angeles fires from 1984 to 1991.
- Julio González, the perpetrator behind the Happy Land Fire killed 87 in 1990, likely as revenge against his ex-girlfriend.
- Paul Kenneth Keller, convicted of setting over 107 fires in 1992 and 1993.
- John Magno and several others were responsible for the Woodbine Building Supply fire in 2001.
- Thomas Sweatt, set over 350 fires in and around Washington, D.C., most of which occurred in 2003 and 2004.
- Raymond Lee Oyler, set the Esparanza Fire which burned over 41,000 acres of land, in 2006.
- Benjamin Christensen, volunteer firefighter from Pennsylvania responsible for setting seven fires from 2007 to 2008.
- Francisco Ignacio Mondaca and Francisco Pinto were responsible for starting the 2024 Chile wildfires that killed 137 people.
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