The Skyline Parkway Motel at Rockfish Gap after arson on July 9, 2004.

The possibility of financial gain often drives arsonists to file fraudulent insurance claims after setting a fire. Indeed, the most common motive for arson is profit.^[13] The ongoing subprime mortgage crisis may lead to an increase in home arsons.^[14]

Some arson is committed in an effort to conceal or disguise other crimes. Some may be committed by 'enforcers' of protection rackets as consequences of failing to pay extortionists.

Revenge drives some arsonists.^[15] Victims’ property is often damaged or destroyed, compromising physical safety and sometimes causing personal injury. Domestic violence sometimes results in arson.^[16] Disgruntled firefighters occasionally use arson out of revenge, especially those angry at losing their jobs or who have numerous grievances with a fire station and hope the fire chief or other superiors perish in the fire they start.^[17]

Anger and frustration are behind the arsons perpetrated by juvenile vandals.^[18] Vandalism through fire often occurs in vacant or abandoned buildings. Cities usually encourage owners to secure vacant buildings. Fire departments aggressively attack fires in abandoned buildings out of concern for the transient or homeless people that may be dwelling inside.^[19][20][21]

Political ideology motivates some acts of arson. For example, some members of the Earth Liberation Front are believed to have set fires to structures in order to spread a message of environmental protection.^[22][23] And in virtually every human conflict/war throughout history, acts of arson have been committed or attributed to each side of the conflict, such as in the American Civil War^[24] or most recently, Serbian protests of Kosovo's Independence, at the Serbia-Kosovo border on February 19, 2008^[25] and at the American Embassy in Belgrade on February 21, 2008.^[26]

It was rumored that Roman emperor Nero purposefully ordered the Great Fire of Rome, which erupted on the night of July 18, 64 CE. In reality, the fire started from the shops selling flammable goods at the southeastern end of the Circus Maximus and reportedly lasted for nine days.^[27]

Political power motivates others, such as the notorious Reichstag fire of 1934, when the main parliament building in Germany was burnt to the ground. A young dutchman, Marius van der Lubbe was found in the building after the fire had started, and he confessed to the deed. However, recent research in the Gestapo archives has shown that the Nazis were actually responsible and used the boy as a scapegoat. A part of SA storm-troopers entered the building along a tunnel from Goering's Presidential palace and set fire to the central chamber using self-igniting mixtures. It is clear from the original fire investigation that no single person could have started so many small fires in the short time available.

References