Fed: Criminologist profiles pyromaniacs

AAP General News (Australia)
12-28-2001
Fed: Criminologist profiles pyromaniacs

CANBERRA, Dec 28 AAP - Those responsible for lighting bushfires which have devastated
NSW were almost certainly male, under 25, from a single-parent home and could be working
as a volunteer firefighter, a leading criminologist said today.

The pyromaniac would have lit the fire for excitement, in some cases for sexual excitement,
and would have chosen Christmas Day to do so to prove his power, criminologist Paul Wilson
said.

The firebugs would probably have left behind clues at the scene of their crime because
they were so disorganised.

And frighteningly, a pyromaniac in his late teens or early 20s could volunteer to fight
the fire to ensure he is close to his handiwork.

Professor Wilson, the chairman of criminology at Bond University and a former profiler
for the Institute of Criminology, said whoever lit the fires was a pyromaniac rather than
an arsonist.

"An arsonist is someone who deliberately lights a fire generally for material gain
or for revenge," he said on ABC radio.

"A pyromaniac, on the other hand, lights a fire to obtain excitement or revenge or
sometimes, very rarely, for sexual excitement."

Prof Wilson said pyromaniacs were motivated by excitement.

"Generally those are thrill seekers, attention seekers, they are trying to get recognition,
if not by others at least in terms of their own ego," he said.

"Generally they're fairly young, that is they are under the age of 25 and generally
younger than that, but the older they are the more likely they are to have a criminal
record.

"It's possible to get pyromaniacs who are in their 50s or 60s but generally that's rare.

"If they're young, between say 12 and 15, they've probably come to the attention of
police before.

"If they are in their late adolescence or early adulthood, they are generally unemployed.

"Their family tends to be from the lower-middle class bracket and the profile personality
wise is essentially of young juveniles who are fairly unhappy, lack good relationships
with the opposite sex."

Prof Wilson said the pyromaniacs were never easy to catch but did leave behind clues.

"They are disorganised and in that sense they're likely to set fire in places where
other people will see them setting fires and therefore report it to police," he said.

"Often they leave behind at the crime scene items such as cigarettes or lighters or
other material, lighter material fluid that can be matched with material that can be found
in their houses or on their person."

Prof Wilson said many pyromaniacs enjoy watching their work, which means some will
become voluntary firefighters because they enjoy seeing results of their handiwork.

"Unfortunately you do find pyromaniacs who volunteer for fire fighting services," he said.

Three 15-year-olds were arrested in NSW yesterday, and a 19-year-old man was charged
in the ACT today, with lighting fires.

AAP sm/gl/de

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES NSW PROFILE

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