Post on 18-Oct-2020
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ARSON and then some!John Williamson. Dip FM, MSc, FIFireE.
ARSON
l 60% arson fires in some areasl 50% of property fires is averagel 62% of small fires
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ARSONl Still growing and has doubled since 91!l 900.000 arson fires annuallyl 1.7 million arson fires in 10 yearsl 1,100 arson fire deaths in 10 yearsl Only 9% arson cases cleared up
ARSON in an average week
l 2100 arson attacksl 55 injuriesl 2 deathsl Costs £40 million damage and costsl 20 Schools damaged or destroyedl 4 places of religion damaged/destroyed
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What has been done?
l Government fundingl APBl Arson Control Foruml Lots of different people involvedl Working togetherl Starting to see some change
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ARSON
l 10-17 year olds 40% those prosecutedl Low income are victims by 31 timesl Vehicle arson fastest growing-trebled since
1991
MOTIVES FOR ARSON
l Profitl Vandalisml Excitementl Revengel Crime concealmentl Extremisml Psychological problems
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Setting an arson fire
l Locationl Fuelsl Flammable liquidsl Types of accelerantl Method of initiation
Stating the obvious!
l Evidence of forced entryl Repeated number of firesl Same person at different firesl Firefighting difficulties and trapsl Interfering with fire safety measuresl Persons wrongly dressed for occasion
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Reasons for suspicion
l Multiple seats of firel Contents dispositionl Things that shouldn’t be therel Unusually severe fire/rapid developmentl Fire spread patternsl Missing items/value of stock/mismatchl Evidence of other crime
What can I do?
l Position of waste bins and skipsl Pallet storage l Fences and securityl Liaison with other businessesl Liaison with police and neighbourhood l Watch for signs-small fires in areal Manage issues well – revenge arson
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Fire as a weapon
l Cover of crime such as assaultl Give the impression of an accidentl Use of an accelerantl Smoke directionl Mix suicide with homicide
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