Popularly, a pyromaniac is still the first thing that comes to mind when a series of fires occurs. In practice, this rarely turns out to be true. Usually, arsonists do not have an irresistible urge to start a fire, but they want attention, are drunk and are not doing well financially and emotionally. That makes them more dangerous than pyromaniacs.
Historical background of pyromania
The very first suspects of pyromania were mentally retarded girls who served in the countryside during their adolescence and became homesick in that unfamiliar environment. The fact that they were ill was taken into account in the conviction. That was around 1835. After that, for a long time there was hardly any attention for this condition. That only changed after 1900, with the rise of psychoanalysis. It was also more often judged that it must be an impulse disorder. In general, people who set fires were thought to be mentally unwell. However, that was certainly not always the case. Naturally, suspects often shouted that they were pyromaniacs after they were caught. This resulted in a penalty reduction. In short, the share of pyromaniacs in arson figures has been unfairly inflated in a number of ways. What has remained true up to this time is that pyromaniacs are generally not very intelligent.
Hardly known cases
In England, in a study between 1980 and 1990, of 36 arsonists, only three were diagnosed as pyromaniacs. Finnish psychiatrist Nina Lindberg recently examined ninety people who had set something on fire several times. Only three turned out to be pyromaniacs. In the Netherlands, of a hundred arsonists investigated, no one was even a pyromaniac. The previously common idea that arson had a psychiatric cause has now been completely relegated to the realm of fables. For example, it appears that children who set fires do so mainly out of curiosity, and not because of a disorder. With good information about fire safety, recidivism in this group can almost be ruled out.
Arson remains topical
Yet arson is certainly not a thing of the past. Anyone who regularly follows the news will read something every week about burned down houses or, even more often, a fire on an industrial estate. In March 2013, for example, business premises, cars, caravans and shops were set on fire in Haarlem, Hedel, Ede, Heeze, Bad Nieuweschans, Gronsveld, Uden, Nieuwegein, Emmen and Grijpskerk. Arson is more often cited as the cause than carelessness or accident. And the media is still talking about a Pavlovian reaction about a pyromaniac, mainly because they don’t know what a pyromaniac is.
Australian bushfires
This also happened in Australia, where many forest fires have ravaged the Australian summer, especially in recent years. Here too, pyromaniacs were blamed and portrayed as mass murderers. Once again an incorrect link. Pyroenists are never without conscience, they do not want to have human lives on their conscience. An arsonist who wants to deliberately destroy land and lives is by definition never a pyromaniac. It could possibly have been a pyromaniac who wanted to start a small fire and didn’t think about the consequences. But there is a much greater chance that regular (serial) arsonists were at work here too.
Profile of the serial arsonist
Anyone who sets fire more than once is in principle a serial arsonist. In contrast to the somewhat mystified image of the pyromaniac, the serial arsonist is actually a remarkably normal criminal. In most cases it concerns white, unmarried men with problems, often financially. That stresses them out or makes them angry. They set something on fire to take it out. There is rarely any premeditation. That is also why they do not go far from home, the serial arsonist usually lives close to the places where something goes up in flames. It gives them a kick, so there is a significant chance that they will want to do this again. On average, the serial arsonist is bad in relationships with women, with parents, with brothers or sisters. More than other crimes, arson is an act of revenge, evil against others, evil against society. However, this aspect (revenge) is still too often swept under the carpet.
Difficult to solve
Most serial arsonists are not sober when they go out, usually in the evening or on weekends. The target is often a freely accessible building, sometimes the perpetrator really has to break in. They often set fire to things they find there, sometimes they take something with them that makes the fire spread faster (petrol, highly flammable materials). A final aspect, expected by everyone, turns out to be true: the arsonist likes to stay and watch the fire or at least go back again to see the result.
It is not unusual for a serial arsonist to set fires more than ten or twenty times before being caught. Of course, this also works because it is an act that is difficult to trace. There are rarely any witnesses and the perpetrator has no real connection with the building he sets on fire. Looking for an adult, white, dissatisfied ‘loner’ in the same neighborhood is a step in the right direction.