Report Says Juveniles Account for 40% of Arson Arrests in ’86

Juveniles accounted for 40% of arson arrests last year, with 6.6% of those arrests involving a child under 10, according to a report Friday that said arson caused 705 deaths and nearly $1.68 billion in property damage in 1986.

There were 111,000 confirmed or suspected arson fires in the United States in 1986, down 5% from 1985 and 34% from the 1977 peak of 167,500, the National Fire Protection Assn. said in its annual arson report based on figures supplied by fire departments nationwide.

The 705 civilian deaths represented a 5% increase from the 1985 total of 670 and one of every seven lives lost in building fires, the Quincy-based group said.

Arson Biggest Single Cause

Arson was the largest single cause of property damage by fire, accounting for more than one of every four dollars lost in building fires.

The number of vehicle fires blamed on arson in 1986, 57,000, was up 25% from 1985, causing more than $151 million in damage, the highest figure since 1982. “This is the only property class with a strong upward trend in incendiary or suspicious fires in the 1980s,” the report said.

The report said 51% of confirmed or suspected arson fires in 1986 were in residential properties and blamed arson for 71% of prison and jail fires; 60.3% of fires and vacant buildings, and nearly 56% of the fires in schools and other educational facilities.

Police arrested or identified suspects in 18% of the 1986 arson fires, the report said. Eighty-six percent of those arrested for arson were males, it said, and one of every 15 people arrested for arson was under 10 years old.