There are not very many people around who does not like a warm fire in the grate or enjoy sitting by a campfire and roasting marshmallows. We can use fire for many things that are helpful to us and it would be an entirely different world if we had never discovered how to use fire properly. Most of us accept fire for what it is and that is a tool to be used for good things, not bad. Unfortunately there are those who have an unnatural attraction to fire.



Pyromania is a very serious and very real problem for some individuals. It might be hard to believe, but arson can be the reason for about twenty five percent of fires. This can actually cost around two billion dollars annually in property losses alone. It is very difficult for anyone to understand what could drive a person to set fires on purpose when they know the destruction they can cause.

Arsonists not only damage property when they deliberately set fires to buildings and woods. They create a real danger that can take lives and devastate the people affected by them for absolutely no reason that is normal. There is usually an underlying reason that arsonists are attracted to fire and have a need to make them. Arson is considered to be a violent crime and it does not matter whether the arsonist meant to intentionally kill anyone in the process of fulfilling their desire to set fires.

Arsonists will often stay somewhere in the background to watch as the fire they set burns. Watching the flames can be one of the most compelling reasons that they do this. Some arsonists set fires for the excitement alone. It can give them a feeling of empowerment and sometimes they will even get a certain amount of sexual gratification from the act in some twisted way.

Other arsonists set fires because of their need for revenge in some matter that is either real or imagined. These kinds of arsonists might have a more volatile streak and be less likely to care whether anyone is killed or injured. Serial arsonists are most likely to set their fires because of a need for revenge.

There are many other reasons for arsonists to start fires. It can be to vandalize like what might occur with teenagers with nothing better to do, it can be to cover up a crime, it could be to gain profit, or it can be enacted by terrorists who also have an agenda of their own. Whatever reasons a person starts fires intentionally obviously have some mental problem that needs to be addressed immediately. Arsonists can be hard to catch, but progress is being made in the field of how fires are started and profiling those who start them.