Inside the mind of firebug: Who are they and what makes them do it?
Is it the thrill? A hunger for destruction? A sense of heroism? Experts dive into the minds of NSW’s bushfire arsonists to reveal why they leave devastation in their wake.
The South Coast News
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It was a total fire ban day just weeks before the tragic Black Summer bushfires, when a bullied teenage volunteer firefighter sat in a river bed waiting for dry wood to ignite.
In 2019, 19-year-old Blake William Banner was charged with lighting seven fires near his rural home of Tarraganda on the south coast of NSW. So difficult was the job of detectives in laying charges, Bega police fitted a tracking device on his car after the local fire investigator pinpointed Banner as a suspect.
While Banner was acquitted of lighting six of the blazes, he was convicted this month of lighting one in a river bed which he later returned to fight with his NSW Rural Fire Service crew.
When he was questioned by detectives, Banner admitted to lighting the fire using a plastic bottle filled with water like a magnifying glass.
The technique is often used as a bush survival tactic.
The court was told Banner watched hours of YouTube videos, watching all kinds of videos, but did not reveal the reason behind why he lit the fire.
The court was played a recording of the interview, where he told police he wasn‘t motivated by the “thrill” of lighting a fire or the “status” he would receive by later driving the fire truck and putting out the blazes in full firefighting uniform.
He told detectives he was bullied at work, and would often “see red” with “anger”, and would have to control his aggressive thoughts.
Banner told them the red of the fire reminded him of his anger.
“I tried to stop it. I actually stood there stomping on it,” he told detectives.
According to the Australia‘s National Centre for Research in Bushfire and Arson 13 per cent of the estimated 60,000 bushfires in Australia each year are started deliberately, and 37 per cent are suspicious.
While bushfire arsonists represent a very small subcategory of arsonists, climate change is increasing the fire season each year, making it more important to understand what makes them do it.
USING FIRE AS A CALL FOR HELP
Associate Professor of Clinical and Forensic Psychology at Swinburne University Troy McEwan said people deliberately light fires for a range of reasons.
“Some because they want to destroy something or cause harm, some because it helps them to change their emotional state, for example relieving boredom, and some because they think it’s fun, or because it’s something their friends are doing and they are going along with the group,” she said.
“We know that a substantial number of deliberate fires are lit by young people in groups who use fire because it’s exciting.
“For other people fire is a way of attracting attention to their distress and getting help.”
She said fire can be used as a way of regulating or changing emotional states, or expressing emotion.
“Just like some people learn to use aggression as a way of expressing anger, some people learn to use fire in this way,” she said.
“This can be quite indirect; ‘I’m angry and lighting a fire and watching it burn distracts me from anger and helps me feel in control’, or it can be very direct; ‘I’m angry with a specific person and so I set fire to something that belongs to that person or is important to them to damage them’.
“Both men and women can set fires in this emotionally expressive way, though proportionally far more fires are set by men than by women.”
ARSONISTS ARE DIFFICULT TO CONVICT
A teenage Victorian bushfire arsonist said after he was convicted, lighting fires became a way of him releasing his anger. Like Banner, he also spoke of seeing red.
Bushfire fighter Daniel Crawford maintained his innocence after being convicted of lighting seven fires. Judge John Pickering speculated in court he did it to return to the scene to be a “hero”.
Convicted arsonist Yasmin Moon lit the fires on her way to pick up her children from school and would survey the damage as she returned home. She denied lighting them, and has not explained why.
NSW Police Detective Sergeant Justin Marks said he had heard of one case in Newtown in the 1990s where an arsonist admitted lighting fires for sexual gratification.
“I had never thought of that being a reason before, but an explanation is not common,” the Bega Detective said.
“We find a lot of the time that people, normally, totally deny lighting fires.
“We have seen people do it for a sense of importance, and heroism, especially firefighters looking to play a role in putting them out.
“With these types of investigations it’s about tendency and coincidence, and we don’t just target one person. We are told there is a suspect, and we build a brief around them.
“These cases are hard to prove. You don’t get many times when you can triangulate phones and use trackers, and the result can be different whether they face a jury or a judge-alone trial.
Detective Marks said there have been cases where a suspect has been spoken to by police and the fires suddenly stop.
“Did they do it? Or was it someone else? You just don’t know,” he said.
“We know they start with lighting small fires, but all it takes is an ember and half the Bega Valley could be on fire.”
ARSONISTS ARE DIFFICULT TO PROFILE
The Victorian royal commission into the devastating Black Saturday fires found while it is difficult to profile arsonists, “studies overwhelmingly show that arson offenders have features similar to those of many other types of offenders”.
“Most international studies have found that fire-setters tend to be young men with interpersonal difficulties, drug or alcohol dependence, evidence of an unstable childhood, and some form of mental health problem,” the commission found.
“Among other typical characteristics were being racially ‘white’, low socio-economic status, a poor academic and employment record, and an extensive criminal history, with many crimes that were not identified or prosecuted.”
NSW Police say arsonists are known to often at first start small fires, practising their methods before moving to larger and potentially more deadly fires.
“What may appear to be an insignificant fire may demonstrate an arsonist’s pattern of crime,” they said.
“If that behaviour is left undetected, the arsonist may continue lighting fires, which could lead to devastating results.
“Some arsonists practice with small fires before igniting a larger one, so if you see signs of burnt out spot fires or anything suspicious then it is important to report it.”
HOW CAN ARSON BE PREVENTED?
Associate Professor McEwan said there is not enough research being done into how to prevent people from becoming arsonists.
“We know that there is a group of people who deliberately set fires who are more interested in fire – they find it fascinating and it’s closely associated with positive emotions,” she said.
“For these people, it’s possible that they had early learning experiences connecting fire with positive experiences and that fire interest – which is natural to some degree – hasn’t been channelled safely.
“For other people fire setting is just one of a range of anti-social behaviours that they are involved in, for example, property damage, theft and substance use, and there are similar underlying causes for all of these behaviours.”
However, she said there are “a couple of ways we can try to stop or reduce deliberate fire setting”.
“The first is ensuring that children and young people, who are naturally interested in fire, are taught about it and taught to be safe with fire from a young age,” she said.
“This involves good modelling from parents, siblings and friends. It also means that if a young person is behaving in an unsafe way with fire, it should not be ignored and they should be directed to their local Juvenile Fire Awareness Program run by the fire service. This is a good preventive step.
“Where the young person is involved with juvenile justice because of fire setting, culturally appropriate interventions that seek to understand and then address their fire setting should be part of any court order.
She said adult repeat offenders causing harm should be assessed to understand why they use fire.
“Unfortunately in Australia there is no standard mechanism to ensure that someone who is found guilty of arson or fire-related offences undergoes independent forensic psychological or psychiatric assessment to investigate the causes of their fire setting,” she said.
“Because there is no standard assessment of these individuals, they frequently cannot access specialist forensic treatment to try to reduce the risk of further fire setting in future.”
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