Sadly, a wildfire was started by an arsonist near the city of Palm Springs, California today. The fire has already claimed the lives of four firemen and has burned thousands of acres. It is obviously a terrible thing that is happening, and one hopes that there will be no further loss of life, that the fires will be controlled shortly, and that the arsonist is caught.
I have a difficult time understanding what motivates this particular type of arsonist. Generally, we think of crimes as an attempt to gain some item by an illegal means, or as a form of revenge. The arson of a building or workplace is likely often done for such reasons. However, there is no particular person being attacked in a forest fire, and there is no material gain the arsonist realizes in this act. We hear about the dysfunction of being fascinated by fire or starting fires that some people have, but there is obviously a difference between lighting minor things on fire and developing a plot to create a raging firestorm that is likely to kill people and destroy homes. The arsonist (who starts a forest fire) appears to strike out at society in general, or the community. A general hatred of the world we live in is my guess at the state of mind of the arsonist, but it is no more than a guess. If the person who set this particular fire is captured, it will be interesting to see what the motivation behind this act was.
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