Fighting Fire With . . . Computers! : Arson: Fire-setters range from abused children to professional “torches.” Now, experts are compiling computer profiles of those who commit such crimes.

It’s been called the coward’s crime, one of the most underreported in the country, and one of the least understood. Its practitioners include the mentally unstable, little children and hired professionals.

The tools are everywhere--cigarette lighters, matches, newspapers, many household products. The crime is arson, and it requires no planning.

The power of fire is also the most power some of these people will ever possess.

But who is this arsonist?

“He’s the kind of guy who likes to walk in the misty rain,” said John Barracato, chief investigator for Aetna Life & Casualty, a man who has interviewed 900 arsonists in a 32-year career.

“There is no such thing as the generic arsonist,” said David J. Icove, the FBI’s top arson investigator who, along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco, is creating profiles on a computer that may help local law enforcement agencies find arsonists.

Arson kills 1,000 people a year in this country, injures an additional 10,000 and costs the American public $10 billion to $20 billion a year.

Examples:

--In April, a ferry from Norway to Denmark, the Scandinavian Star, caught fire and 158 lost their lives. Police called it arson but made no arrests.

--In Puerto Rico, the Dupont Plaza hotel burned on New Year’s Eve and 97 were killed at the dawn of the year 1987. Three disgruntled kitchen workers were convicted of the crime.

--Last Christmas eve, an arson fire raged through Westwood’s posh condominium row, igniting 15 buildings, chasing 150 people from their homes and inflicting $25 million in damage. No one has been arrested.

The crime of arson has fascinated psychiatrists and criminologists for years. Even Sigmund Freud wrote a paper on the arsonist in the early ‘30s.

One of the reasons is that there are different types of arsonists, and although some overlap, the motive for the arson somewhat determines the profile. Why does the person set the fire? Is it a rational act or is it a compulsion? Is it a business operation with cold cash on the line or is it revenge?

Is there immediate of delayed sexual gratification as the flames leap? Is there a feeling of anger or just power as the individual stands in a crowd watching the destruction that he has wrought?

Fire officials have created six or seven categories of arsonists, with the two extremes being the true pyromaniac and the top-of-the-line hired “torch.” Although accounting for a small percentage of arson, psychologically these two are the farthest apart.

Half of the reported cases of arson in the country are the work of juveniles, ranging from children playing with matches to teen-agers looking for thrills. In reality, they probably account for many more. Parents frequently put out the fires before they get out of hand and don’t call the authorities.

For very young children, it is often a cry for help--or an accident. Older juveniles often set fires for excitement. The hard question is whether they will outgrow it.

Dr. Robert Cole of the University of Rochester and a private consultant has studied the problem extensively. He believes that the label “arsonist” should not be used too freely with some of these youngsters.

He stresses that most juveniles who set fires have no serious or emotional handicaps.

“the problem is that we should not start going around labeling any child who had made a fire as a potential sociopath, or even a potential criminal,” Cole said. “A lot of it is curiosity fire-setting and some of it is plain old-fashioned vandalism, but I don’t think this is a different kid than the kid who breaks windows, or soaps windows or knocks down stop signs.

“Maybe one-third of them may have serious problems.”

According to one study, 85% of the victims of fires set by children are the children themselves.

Easy access to matches, cigarette lighters, candles and stoves killed 69 children in the last three years in New York. Nationwide, burns are second only to transportation accidents as the cause of death during childhood.

Although there is no generic arsonist, there are certain characteristics that keep cropping up.

It is generally accepted that arson is predominantly a male crime. The arsonist is usually not well educated. One study showed an average ninth-grade education. He is often mentally deficient or possessing below-average intelligence. He comes from an unstable home where he may have been abused. He is usually short and slight. He is usually divorced or has never been married, has poor relations with others, particularly with women, and probably has a menial job. He may be known already to the local police and has little or no self-confidence.

He is, in a word, a loser.

The professional “torch” is the smartest of the arsonists and tends to come from a higher socioeconomic background. He makes relatively big bucks burning buildings to collect the insurance. His counterpart, the “thug torch,” is not nearly as good, but far cheaper.

“They hire a stiff from the local bar and give him $150 to $500. I know of one buy who got $1,000,” said Barracato, a New York City deputy fire marshal before he joined Aetna.

“The guy you hire at the bar is probably a low-level criminal type, maybe with a drug or alcohol problem, not well-educated, and probably already familiar to the police.”

His counterpart, the pro, is smarter.

“He wants to see the paper that shows the face value of the property,” Barracato said. “He’ll take 10%, half up front, and guarantee the job will be done in three weeks. By the time the fire department gets there, he’s at the airport. We don’t get many of them. They fly in and out of town and don’t leave tracks.”

The real pro tends to be older, in his late 20s to early 50s. He often is a heavy drinker, but unlike some arsonists who need alcohol to give them courage to start the fire, the pro is likely to be stone sober when he enters a building to take it down.

He is probably a fairly nocturnal individual, possibly nomadic, likely to be single or divorced.

Another type well known to the firefighting world is the “vanity” or “hero” fire maker. He might be the security guard whose job is threatened. So he starts a fire one night, calls the fire department, but manages to subdue it himself before the firemen arrive.

What happens? His job is safe. He might even get a promotion or a raise. He also will go right up to No. 1 on the fire marshal’s suspect list.

He may also be a superintendent of a building who has put out one too many fires for the investigators’ antennae. Although he may appear a hero, Fire Marshal James McSwigin says he sometimes tries to become too big a hero and ends up killing himself and others.

The federal study will be released in about 18 months, Icove said. It will be based on in-depth interviews with 100 serial arsonists convicted of setting three or more fires and imprisoned.

It is notoriously easy to get away with arson--only 16 arrests for every 100 confirmed incendiary fires, contrasted with 75 arrests per 100 homicides.

Insurance officials say half of all residential fires are arson, but charges are brought in only 19% to 26% of the cases. They can’t prove it.

The FBI study found that women turn up in significant numbers only in the revenge-motivated category. Twenty-eight percent of the arsonists in this category are women; the category itself makes up only 14% of all arsons.

Another finding was that juvenile vandals and thrill-seekers tended to act in groups, not as loners. Juveniles also said they did not use alcohol or drugs before setting fires. Many adults said they did.

New York City Chief Fire Marshal John Stickevers has prepared a paper on the true pyromaniac. He says the disorder is an extreme form of obsessive-compulsive behavior.

Stickevers says pyromaniacs usually follow rather rigid patterns, starting fires when and where no one is likely to be around. The fires also tend to occur in geographic clusters.

The pyromaniac, he says, is often a male loner whose background includes a domineering mother and a weak or absent father.

Ironically, the principal male figure in his life probably worked at a job in which fire played a significant role, such as a firefighter, steel mill worker or incinerator operator.

“Anyone who is obsessed with fire is probably a pyromaniac,” Cole said.

The few female pyromaniacs become active at menopause, while the men start out as youngsters. The female pyros typically set a number of small fires inside their homes.

Some arsonists are simply starting the fire to conceal other crimes, such as a murder, burglary, or even industrial espionage.

John Hall, director of fire analysis and research at the National Fire Protection Assn. in Quincy, Mass., says there is no hard data, but he would guess that 14% to 20% of arsonists have severe psychological problems. His organization has been keeping statistics on arson for nearly 100 years.

“There is a lot we don’t know,” Hall said. “I would be very suspicious of anyone going around making a living giving a profile of an arsonist.”

Barracato agreed.

“It is the most misunderstood of all crimes,” he said. “We understand very little of the pathology and nobody is keeping accurate records.”