UPDATE: a 39 year old man has been charged with fatal arson and possessing child pornography. He is believed to have lit the deadly Churchill fires that killed 21 people and did untold damage….

I heard on the news today that arsonists had re-lit two of the fires in Victoria. Fire fighters had put them out. Meanwhile, a NSW man, accused of starting one of the fires near Peats Ridge is applying for bail even though he told police he’s worried he may do it again if he’s released.

Kevin Rudd made the poin t that these arsonists are mass murderers. “The laws of the state provide that they can be put away and put away for life,” he told the Seven Network. “My own personal view is they should be allowed to rot in jail. This is unspeakable murder on a mass scale.”

He’s right. They are. Now imagine if someone had killed dozens of people with a machine gun. He’d been arrested but was seeking bail. “I might shoot some more people if you release me but hey, I really don’t much like being in jail so I’d like to leave.”

It’s impossible to fathom what goes through the mind of an arsonist who knows he is likely to kill people and certainly kill animals and destroy property not to mention put the lives of fire-fighters at risk. Is it a sexual thing? Power? Anger? Attention-seeking? I hope to God that there are psychologists studying arsonists and what motivates them. It’s not enough to say they should be thrown in jail (or, as I have been suggesting this week, set on fire). We don’t want to drive them further underground so they are too fearful seek help to address their twisted sickness. I can’t feel any compassion for them. I wish them nothing but misery. But for the sake of innocent people, we must seek to help these fucked up arsonists and rehabilitate them.

Here is a heart-breaking open letter to one of the arsonists who lit the Victorian fire from a woman who lost everything…..

I went looking for some answers about what motivates arsonists and found a really interesting article called “Inside an arsonist’s mind” which was written in 2003 around the time of the Californian bushfires which had also been deliberately lit……..

“The truth is, very little is known about arsonists because so few arsons are solved,” says psychologist Joel Dvoskin, PhD, ABPP, of the University of Arizona Medical School and a member of the American Board of Forensic Psychology who has done work on the psychological motivations behind arson.

Still, he tells WebMD that studies indicate that the most common reason for arson is profit. “Buildings are often set on fire for insurance purposes,” he tells WebMD. “But certainly, that doesn’t fit the pattern of what’s happening in California.”

For those fires, based on what’s known, anger is a more likely explanation for what has resulted in one of the most widespread and expensive disasters ever to occur in that state — engulfing some 600,000 acres and 2,000 homes.

Brains and Arson

According to a 1987 report in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, the vast majority of “profiled” arsonists have a below-normal IQ — typically between 70 and 90. About one in four fall in the below-70 IQ range that qualifies them as mentally retarded — not to say that all mentally retarded children are going to grow up to be arsonists.

“In these types of cases, arson is often committed by someone who is retarded but also angry. It’s that combination that is a catalyst — their anger but having fewer means to express it,” says Dvoskin. “Honestly, I can’t think of a single arsonist I’ve dealt with for whom anger wasn’t the primary motivator.”

In the FBI report, as well as statistics by the U.S. Fire Administration, part of the Department of Homeland Security, half of all arsons are committed by those younger than age 18; the other half is typically in their late 20s. In arson cases involving older people, the motivation is usually for profit. About 90% of all arsonists are male and they are usually white, states the FBI report.

On Tuesday, California authorities released a composite sketch of a white man believed to be in his late 20s, who was seen by eyewitnesses starting one of the fires.

Yet Dvoskin is leery of “profiling” arsonists because those profiles are usually based on arsonists who have been apprehended by authorities — and most aren’t. “It could be that the smarter people get away with it, and less smart people are more likely to get caught,” he tells WebMD.

Another expert who counsels young arsonists says that while many fire-setters indeed have below-normal intelligence, many of his patients are just the opposite.

“About a fifth of our population is extremely bright, and many of these kids are reading at a college level,” says Alan Feldberg, PhD, a psychologist at Cornell Abraxas Group, a center in Pennsylvania that treats “fire-setting youths.” “Some are extremely computer-savvy and learn in a scientific way how to set fires to get maximum impact.”

But anger remains the primary motivation of his patients — teens between 12 and 19 with a history of starting fires.

“If you ask our kids why they set fires, the first answer you get is, ‘Because I have an anger problem,'” Feldberg tells WebMD. “Based on data we’ve collected on our teenagers, these kids are often neglected and have a history of physical abuse and humiliation.” These characteristics are consistent with the FBI profile of the typical arsonist.

Revenge, Excitement, Arousal

Still, there are other motivations: “Revenge, excitement, and thrills are also big factors, and rarely, but certainly, there are people who are sexually aroused by fire,” he says. In some cases, fire investigators have found evidence of sexual gratification at arson sites.

While many children are fascinated by fire and may even engage in “fire play” as children, this usually disappears by puberty, says Feldberg.

But in teens who remain fire-setters, this doesn’t disappear. Untreated, these young arsonists may continue to be arsonists as they age.

“Most of us believe it’s a lot like sexual offending: If you can catch it early enough, it is a treatable disorder,” says Feldberg. “We know kids who start fires are more likely to start more fires, and particular kids will ratchet it up to become bigger, more sensationalistic, and more dangerous. Fire can make a tremendous impact.”

Arsonist Red Flags

He offers some red flags that could identify a possible arsonist-in-the-works:

Will authorities catch the suspected arsonists behind the California blazes? “I certainly hope so, because these crimes are rarely solved,” says Dvoskin, who has consulted police on arson cases. “When they are, it’s usually because the arsonist can’t keep his mouth shut — he brags about setting the fire.”

In this case, that may not occur because Dvoskin suspects the devastation may be beyond the arsonist’s goal.

“So if they solve this, either they’re going to be lucky or it’s solved through good old-fashioned police work — some hard-working, diligent detective who follows up on hundreds or even thousands of leads and tracks down that one to solve the crime.”