Arson is a crime of willfully and maliciously setting fire to or charring property. Though the act typically involves buildings, the term arson can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercraft, or forests. The crime is typically classified as a felony, with instances involving a greater degree of risk to human life or property carrying a stricter penalty. A common motive for arson is to commit
insurance fraud.
123 In such cases, a person destroys their own property by burning it and then lies about the cause in order to collect against their
insurance policy.4
A person who commits arson is referred to as an arsonist, or a serial arsonist if committed several times. Arsonists normally use an accelerant (such as gasoline or kerosene) to ignite, propel and directionalize fires, and the detection and identification of ignitable liquid residues (ILRs) is an important part of fire investigations.5 Pyromania is an impulse control disorder characterized by the
pathological setting of fires.6 Most acts of arson are not committed by pyromaniacs.6
