Welcome to Mysteries to Die For.
I am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. This is a podcast where we combine storytelling with original music to put you in the heart of a mystery. All stories are structured to challenge you to beat the detective to the solution. Jack and I perform these live, front to back, no breaks, no fakes, no retakes.
The rules for law and order create the boundaries for civil co-existence and, ideally, the backdrops for individuals, families, and companies to grow and thrive. Breaking these rules puts civil order at risk. And while murder is the Big Daddy of crimes, codified ordinances across municipal divisions, counties, states, and countries show the nearly endless ways there are to create mayhem. This season, we put our detective skills to the test. This is Season 8, Anything but Murder.
This is Episode 18, arson for hire is the featured crime. This is A Slow Burn by Chuck Brownman.
About Arson
Episode 16, First Reports are Rarely Right, was a different kind of arson story. In the episode, we talked the case of serial arsonist, Thomas Sweatt. Today, I thought we’d get a little more technical.
An article published back in June 1982 in Fire and Arson Investigator, Volume 32 Issue 4, classified arson motives based on a sample of 139 cases in New York City. The following comes directly from the article’s abstract and is rearranged to be easier to follow:
Types of arson motives identified are:
(1) pyromania (10.1 percent) The pyro firesetter usually sets the fire in an occupied multiple dwelling at night in a public portion of the building, usually on the floor and using a flammable liquid for one fire rather than multiple fires.
(2) revenge (52.9 percent) The revenge firesetter, who often threatens arson prior to the act, will focus on the residence or a building associated with the targeted victim. Flammable liquid is used to start one or multiple fires.
(3) vandalism (12.3 percent) The vandal arsonist targets occupied multiple dwellings as well as commercial buildings, schools, jails, churches, and abandoned buildings. Night is the favorite time and the first floor is preferred for starting the fire.
(4) insurance fraud (6.55 percent) Arson for insurance is obviously committed on insured property, and the fire is designed to provide complete devastation.
(5) welfare fraud (6.55 percent) Welfare fraud fires are usually set in the residence of the perpetrator after all valuable property has been removed, and the crime concealment arsonist is usually concealing a burglary, and existing paper at one spot on the floor is generally used.
(6) the psycho firesetter (8.7 percent) The psycho arsonist usually sets the fire in his own residence and customarily starts one small fire without the use of an accelerant.
(7) crime concealment (2.9 percent) Fires are set to destroy evidence of other crimes, such as theft or murder.
There are several caveats to be aware of. This article is 43 years old and it was based on a narrow data set – 138 cases specifically in NYC. I liked it for the simplicity in the way the results were presented. While I’m sure there are other more recent reports out there, I didn’t find one nearly as neat. So take this in large general terms
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/identifying-arson-motives
ABOUT Chuck Brownman
A mostly-retired (and hopefully recovering) attorney, Chuck Brownman now enjoys writing noir fiction, concentrating on short fiction. His work has been published in several anthologies and on multiple websites, including those listed at the top of this episode. He has also served various times as a judge for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards. When not writing fiction, Chuck...
