WEBVTT - Pyromania: What's Your Relationship with Fire? 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:13.840 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.279 My name is Robert Lamp and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:18.439 what is your relationship with fire? And by fire I 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.160 mean actual fire and not the American gladiator of fire? 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:24.840 Ah right, okay, because I was gonna say, like, definitely 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:27.040 a big bonk on the head with a giant foam 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.160 thing into water. Yeah, yeah, but you know, of course 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:33.720 fire would have caused that. But no, my relationship to 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.800 fire it is. I wouldn't say it's complicated, but I 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.600 would say, like, just like everybody else, there's something very 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:46.479 alluring about fire, mesmerizing. Um, My earliest memories rose were, 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:51.199 of of course, burning ants with magnified glass. You were 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:53.320 one of those kids. I was definitely one of those kids. 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.800 And um, and then waving my hand over a candle 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:00.480 flame with my babysitter for a very long time, and 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:03.200 why she was partaking of this with you. She was like, 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.959 let's let's She and her hippie boyfriend were both like, 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:09.360 let's do this thing was it was a hippie not 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:11.720 like a g Gordon Liddy thing where you like hold 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:16.560 your m okay, you like, look how macho and conservative 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:18.480 I am, because I no, no, is the opposite. It 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:21.319 was like, let's try to control this fire man. And 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:27.039 now I cannot uh speak for them, but I will 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:29.800 say that it's possible that maybe there was something that 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:34.440 was enhancing the experience for them looking back now and understanding, um, 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:39.919 teenagers back in the day. Coffee, Yeah, lots of coffee. 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:42.200 I'm sure that was it. Yeah. Yeah, So anyway, that 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:45.320 those were my memories of being absolutely mesmerized by fire, 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.279 and you you well, I tend to think of fire 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:50.920 is um it's not so much an element but a 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.960 golden God that I that I honor, and and when 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.640 I bring fire into the world, I am allowing a 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:01.520 part of this god to rein of the world and 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:05.960 destroy my Yeah. Was that that That's what I would 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:09.280 say if I were a pyromaniac, perhaps, as we'll discussing 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:13.040 this podcast, because that's that's because my history fires probably 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.680 mostly uninteresting. Yes, when I was a kid, I probably 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:18.720 had a stage where I went through where I really 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.880 like firecrackers and it was it was fun to strap 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:23.639 them to the backs of little g I Joe men 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.000 and and just stick them into the dirt and watch 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:28.400 things blow up, and you know, and we all and 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:30.320 I love poking around in the fire. I was in 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.720 boy Scouts. There's a lot of poking around in the fire. Uh. 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:37.040 But eventually I kind of outgrew that. So I I 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:40.679 like staring into the fire. I think I I like flames. 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:43.800 There's something, you know, kind of scary about it. If 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.120 I feel like I left a flame going in, say 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:48.839 the in the bathroom in the morning, I will freak 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.239 out and probably turn the car around or or turn 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:53.000 my walk around and go back to the house to 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.760 address it. But but I mean, fire is amazing. Fire 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:00.880 is beautiful. Um, So we can't help would be fascinated 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:04.440 by it. But it's probably a bad thing. We're too 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:07.959 fascinated by it. Well, the the crazy thing about it 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.800 is that, of course, when when we discovered fire, it 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.760 really helped us out right as people, as a civilization, 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:19.400 as the ability to even um exists as humans today, 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:21.720 right right. It really fact, as we've discussed in the past, 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:23.800 it really had a huge impact on the way that 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:27.120 we hunt our food. For instance, um, you could use 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:30.320 fire to clear out the vegetation around a watering hole, 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.680 so you could see the prey animals that were creeping 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:37.240 towards the water to drink and slay them. And then 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:41.280 once you had slain the prey animal, you could conceivably 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:44.080 roasted up and get more out of your meal um 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:48.280 digest things that were normally not not not something you 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:52.000 could digest, that's right. You would trans the ability to transform, yeah, 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.160 foods that you wouldn't be able to digest. Right, And 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:57.720 to say nothing of its use as a destroyer and 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:00.680 as a weapon. I mean, fire has has pretty much 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.480 always played a role in in human warfare. I mean, 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:07.160 from the flaming era to a flaming stick, to h 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:12.400 to napalm to the idea of of nuclear firestorms ravaging 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:16.040 the continent following some sort of a World War three scenario. 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.600 So I mean it, fire is is a big player 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.400 in human civilizations, hopes, and fears. And I guess what 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:25.240 we're trying to do is trying to occupy the mindset 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.240 of someone who would be so in love with fire 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.960 and be romancing fire, because on some level we all 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.400 understand that again, you know, fire is the life givers, 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:38.039 the destroyer. But some people, a very small personage of 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:43.520 the population paramaniacs specifically UM are absolutely obsessed with it, 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.240 and so we're gonna try to get you know, into 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:48.440 their minds a little bit today. Although we will say 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:52.320 that this is UH territory that hasn't been greatly explored 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.760 for many reasons. Right now, we're not going to get 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.760 into the chemical reaction of fire, but but just a 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.440 quid engine here, we have an excellent article called how 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.320 Fireworks by Tom Harris on how stuff works dot com. 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.120 Just go to the website and type in how fireworks 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:07.719 and you go right to it. Here's a quote from it. 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.920 Fire isn't matter at all. It's a visible, tangible side 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.440 effect of matter changing form. It's one part of a 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.760 chemical reaction, which, you know, just a quick quote from 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:19.800 just what fire is. But it gives you a little 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:22.600 more idea that we're a little insight into why it's 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.280 so fascinating, because it is it's a thing between you know, 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.160 and it's UH. In addition to being this life giver, 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.800 this destroyer UM and you and you also, I've I've 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:35.159 heard it argued that like every story we've ever told 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.159 is essentially a story of camp fires. You know, like 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.200 when we sit around the camp fire there's this primal 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:44.960 experience of of of of humans with their light, with 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:47.680 their warmth, and then beyond them the darkness of the 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:50.920 rest of the world. Well then then there's a mysterious 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:53.000 element of it too. I mean, you know, you take 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:55.240 a candle and you turn it um, you know, to 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:57.000 the right or left, it's always going to point up 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:00.200 and unless as about to say, that's a gravity at 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.600 work for you, unless you're on a spaceship. And then 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:04.440 you get to see the blue flame in the red flame, 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.560 which is really just the embers of that. So yeah, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:11.280 there's something really powerful to that. UM. But again, some 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.680 people they get a little bit too excited by by 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.520 this flame. And let's look at some examples of people 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.880 who are too into their fire making. Yeah, yeah, okay, 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.160 So there's an infamous arsonist right who has a lot 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.320 of the characteristics of a pyromaniac. And it hasn't you know, 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.440 exactly been said this is a pyromaniac. And again we 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:35.080 talk about he's definitely on the waiting list. Um, looks 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.719 like he might make it. Paul Keller lives lives in Seattle. 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:41.720 He is now serving in ninety nine year prison sentence 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.000 and he started setting fires as a child and later 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.360 tried to join the fire department. And he's an alcoholic 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:52.719 um and during those fires, most likely he was probably imbibing. 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.520 But he set something like seventy fires in his career 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:59.640 and one at a nursing home facility. So obviously there's 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.800 you know, you know that there's a dark side to this. 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.080 But that's when you know that someone has certainly tipped 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:09.200 over the edge of perhaps just seeing what a fire 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.920 might do in some sort of scenario and then actually 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.600 setting a fire knowing that many lives will be taken right. 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.800 Another big case that hand across was one that mentioned 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.040 in some of the literature. This British psychiatrist by the 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.480 name of Randolph Parks that he did a whole paper 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:28.160 two thousand five looking at this twenty year old homeless 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.400 individual was not named at the study, but he was 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:34.120 actually going on dousing people with lighter fluid and setting 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.120 him on fire. Um and was he also had a 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:40.960 number of other symptoms like it was this guy was 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:42.680 was kind of out there because he was like hearing 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.320 breathing in his bedroom and seeing blood on the wall. 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.600 He reported having seen ghosts like people that looked like water, 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.600 so he was having hallucination. He was having hallucinations. So 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.040 on the light side, there's the porta potty pyromaniac. This 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.640 was in San Francisco a couple of years ago, and 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.480 he torched more than one t porta potties over two 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:05.240 month period and would do this primarily a night. Although he, 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:07.559 I say he could have very well been a woman. 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:11.080 He or she was so bold enough as to actually 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.160 um set one on fire during the daytime, in which 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:19.040 you could see the porta potti combusting in all its glory, 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.720 with all of its elements flying through the air. Well. 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:25.400 You know, there's probably a study out there that we 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.760 should look at on on porta potty vandalizing in general, 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.720 because it seems like there's something about the porta potty 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.480 that that humans are compelled to mess with it. I 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.480 guess because it's this little room that's full of pooh, 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.200 and we there's something and everyone that wants to tip 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.280 it over or or hit it with a car or 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:49.839 catch it on fire. Right, No, maybe you I think 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:52.400 we just got a little insight there. Maybe I just don't. 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:54.320 I mean, I'm not a big porta potty fans, so 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.080 maybe it's part of my my rage against the Maybe 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.559 it's your fear. It's like you're trying to master your 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:03.360 fear of porta potties by imagining being tippled over. Like seriously, 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:05.080 I went into one recently and it had a graded 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:07.400 floor like a like a milk carton, like it had 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.319 holes in it. That's how how why did it pick 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:12.199 us that long to figure out that a porta potty 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.160 needs holes in it so that it's not slick with mud, 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.640 uh and other matter when someone goes into it after 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:21.200 it's been up for a day or two. Well, I 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.640 mean that's there's always room for a progress, right, I guess. Yeah. 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:26.760 I told you how I was almost carried away in 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.480 one at Cochella one year. Right. It was. Now, granted, 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.640 it was not just a normal port port This is 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.000 why you have the fear, tell us it was. It 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:37.839 was not just a normal porta potty. They had those 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:39.640 two and they were disgusting, of course, But they also 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.319 had ones on the back of a truck, which is 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:45.680 like this this big. It's like a full sized bathroom, 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:48.600 you know, with sinks and all kind of fancy but 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:53.040 also kind of gross. Yeah. Yeah, And I had gone 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.840 in and I didn't know this, but they were closing 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:57.200 it up, and they were about to take it away 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:58.920 on the back of a truck with me still in it. 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:01.760 And then some guy I like, haller is something you know, 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.200 unintelligible that I can only call it a holler because 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:06.680 it was that, you know, unintelligible through the door, and 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:08.559 then shuts it. I'm like, I wonder what he's yelling about. 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:11.839 And so I finished my business and I rushed to 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.040 the door, and they're they're getting ready to haul it off, 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.520 probably to throw it over the edge of a canyon somewhere, 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.160 I guess. No, No, I'm just imagining that some sort 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.960 of elaborate plot to kidnap you and then they force 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.960 you into labor in some remote part of the world. 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.360 So I didn't I didn't necessarily want to start it 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:30.920 on a fire. But but but now you do. Now 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:33.559 you've got these feelings about porta Potti that you that 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:37.000 you are unresolved, that perhaps fire could help with Maybe 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:38.719 fire could help me with that. All right, Yeah, let's 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:40.719 swing back to the fire there that was. That's a 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:46.200 fun little party potty diversion. Um, okay, so what is pyromania? Right? Um? 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.400 That the term actually comes from French physician Charlos cretien 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:55.200 Um and it's malamuni incendiary apologies from my French, which 0:10:55.559 --> 0:11:02.000 translates to insane incendiarism. Okay, so the terms kind of vague, right, Well, 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:05.440 it's in the same way that insanity is often a 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:09.480 term that is contested and and and depends on who's 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:12.199 throwing it around and who's receiving it. Uh. Yeah, you 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.560 look across the board and people have different definitions of 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:19.480 who qualifies as insane and who qualifies as a pyromaniac. 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:21.280 Which is really interesting too, because if you look at 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:26.320 this criteria of of what is a pyromaniac, there's a 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.000 very big lack of insanity in this list. Right, it's 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:32.360 kind of actually spelling out this story of someone who 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:36.719 is perfectly normal except really likes fires. Right and uh, 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.920 and just to give another nod to how how loose 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.040 the terminology can be, the FBI organized and Advanced Fire 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.600 Investigation Training session a little while ago, and uh, at 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.199 the start of the meeting, they ask over six hundred participants, 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:54.280 which included fire agency personnels like insurance investigators, uh, you know, 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.920 police officers, mental health professionals, various Walks of Life to 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:00.520 write down their definition of pyromania, and not a single 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:03.160 definition was identical. Well, and this is part of the problem, 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:06.920 right if we have um discovered here and many are 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:10.199 discovering in the field, is that this it hasn't been 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.760 studied that well. And um, there's a lot of misinformation 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.360 out there that we'll get to. But so far, the 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:20.880 American Psychiatric Association is Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:26.160 Disorders has set forth the following criteria for a diagnosis. Okay, pyromania. 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:28.720 And I can't help but think as we go through this, 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:32.280 let's think of of one of the more famous pyromaniacs 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:37.240 or potential pyromaniacs from popular culture, that being Beavis, Beavis 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:39.760 and butt Head, because as you remember, he was rather 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:44.400 enamored with the Golden Flame. Yes, well, and also Bart Simpson. Oh, 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.040 it's Bart Big into the fire. I think that's what 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.959 landed him in the in detention. Okay, Well, let's think 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:53.640 of Bart and Beavis as we proceed. Okay, alright, First, 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:57.560 the individual must have set fires deliberately and purposefully on 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:00.400 more than one occasion. Okay, definitely on the this and 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.280 I assume on Bart they've been that has been going 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.360 on too long for them to have gone to that 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:06.439 well more than once, I agree, and at least during 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:10.000 the episode that would have been many times. The individual 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:13.920 must be tense or exhibit outward emotional behaviors talking about 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:18.560 facial expressions, changes in voice, excitement before setting fires. Definitely this. Yes, 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.480 the individual must be interested in, curious about, fascinated with, 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:25.720 and or attracted to fires in their situations. I think 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.920 that kind of goes on That one's kind of silly 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:33.160 because that kind of goes with the territory. The individual 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:37.120 must experience pleasure, tension, relief, or gratification after setting fires 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.920 or watching fires in their aftermaths. Yes, this is obviously 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:43.560 the probably the biggest marker here, right, Yeah, Like it's 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.640 kind of like the whole thing, like a five. I 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.400 think there was like a Far Side cartoon where there's 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.640 a building burning and the people are turning and noticing, 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.280 like the dude that's just setting there with just wide 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:55.520 eyes and just loving every minute of it. Like that's 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.959 the guy that you're kind of suspect might have pyromania issues. Yeah, yeah, 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.439 the guy with the kaleidoscope eyes is definitely. Other psychological 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:07.760 disorders cannot better account for the individual's fire setting behavior, 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:12.559 manic episodes, antisocial behavior. Okay, So for instance, if they're 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:16.520 seeing things in the night bleeding walls and then decided 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:20.680 to go set hopos on fire, that's a byproduct. Yes, yeah, 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:23.880 we're talking about pure pyromania here. Yeah. Um, And then 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.640 the individual has no other motivations for setting the fire, 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:30.280 like financial gain. All right, this is this is like insurance. 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:32.520 I need insurance money, so I'm gonna burn my own 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:34.520 building down. Yeah, my restaurant is not doing that great 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:39.840 kitchen fire. Um. Expressing social or political ideas okay, Obviously 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.800 burning down building as a sign of protests, burning people 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:47.720 in effigy, right right, revenge or anger? Right, this is 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:49.760 I don't like you, you said something bad to me, 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.400 or I think or even like I perceive that you 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:54.920 wronged me in some fashion, So I'm going to burn 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:59.200 your cupical down. For any of the TLC hip hop 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:04.080 fans out there, Um, Lisa left dial Opez, I believe 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:09.000 burned down her fiance's mansion. Yes, right, it was in Atlanta, 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:13.720 so TLC before well or I guess after the Learning Channel, 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:17.200 but I'm thinking, yeah it was TLC, right, Um, I 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.360 was thinking of the show because I'm not as familiar 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.200 with all the TLC programming, so I thought maybe there's 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.480 like a pyromania ladies. Yeah, and you know I've got 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:27.520 one foot in there, so that you thought, Julie, she's 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:31.640 just fun TLC dot com again. Um enough a kick boss, Julie. 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.840 Um okay, So hiding other criminal activity, concealing a murderer, theft, right, 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:39.400 getting rid of a body by burning it. Yeah, something 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.960 dark like that. Improving his or her living circumstances, which 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:45.200 I don't really get that. I get the financial gain, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.200 but you would think that would be one and the same. 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:53.080 Responding to delusions or hallucinations or pair judgment, dementia, mental retardation, 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:55.880 alcohol or dragon toxic what is improving his or her 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:57.760 living So it's kind of like, you know, this living 0:15:57.840 --> 0:15:59.040 room is great, but I feel like it would be 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.560 better if I've learned that. Yeah, it would be really 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:03.640 shabby cheek if I could just you know, get a 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:07.640 little singe to some of this furniture. Um also that 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.840 the individual must not exhibit intoxication, criminal motivation, or other 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:15.440 criminal psychiatric disorders. So when you take all of this, 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:19.000 it's purely like this that that that one point, which 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:22.000 is like number point number four, then the individual must 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.080 experience pleasure attention really for gratifications. So that's really at 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:27.960 the heart of this matter. Um. And just as a 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:30.520 little side fact, in the US, only three percent of 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.760 suspected arson fires lead to conviction. Okay uh. And then 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.000 from slate dot com The Science of Pyromania, they say, 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:42.080 maybe the true arson prone pyromaniacs are still roaming the streets. 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.960 Some evidence suggests that arsonists tend to be non assertive 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:48.200 offenders who internalize their anger with fires, enabling them to 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:52.080 avoid face to face confrontation. Such evasiveness also makes them 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.720 difficult to study. So what they're kind of what what 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.280 all this is painting right here, is that it's very 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:02.360 hard to study who a true pyromaniac maybe, and in fact, 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:07.840 there's probably a lot of crossover from arsonists to pyromaniacs. Um. 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.439 And you know, if you kind of lift some of 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:15.400 these constraints, especially the alcohol part. Right, if someone's using 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:17.520 alcohol and they set a fire, that doesn't necessarily mean 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:19.879 that they're not a pyromaniac, especially if they did that 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:23.560 seventy times over the last four months. Right, I was 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:26.520 looking at this article from the American Institute of Forensic 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:31.240 Education that was talking about characteristics of quote, juvenile fire setters, 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.080 because the whole thing is you're gonna have juveniles who 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:37.720 are setting fires and they are not necessarily pyromaniacs as 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.879 as we've do you know, discussed um given these constraints. 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.439 Uh So, some of the examples they lay out in 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.840 this article include the experimental curiosity fire center. And this 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:52.280 is generally somebody younger than seven and and they're generally 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:54.520 after they set the fire, they're generally quite upset by it. 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:56.680 And it's more of a product of lack of supervision 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:00.200 and easy access to fire setting materials. So this would 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.000 be like, you know, you leave a cigarette lighter around 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:06.280 a um, a six year old, there's nobody watching him. 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.240 Of course he might set something on fire. That's why 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.959 you don't leave the fire making implements around when when 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.639 they're on their own generally, right, Like, you know, we 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.399 leave an ax around my nephew and he starts chopping 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:20.760 in a tree with it. It doesn't mean he's an 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:25.119 act wheeling maniac. He's just a kid who season acts 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.840 and nobody's watching, so he's gonna start swinging it's just 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:31.240 what they do. It's true. Then there's the thrill seeking 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:33.760 fire center and this is eleven to twelve years old. 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:37.639 Um and uh this tends to be interrupted by the 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:40.480 time they reach sixteen or seventeen, the article says, and 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.720 uh and it, but it can become more dangerous over time. 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.679 They're generally doing other bad things, and they tend to 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:51.359 enjoy the drama and the chaos that the fire creates. 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.280 And they they're often good manipulators. Their shallow, they're selfish, 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.520 they like a moral compass, so they're a little bit narcissistic, right, 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:00.840 and this is definitely one can see, like they say, 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:03.760 becoming a more serious threat. It's not just a kid 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.240 playing with fire. It's a kid playing with the emotions 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:10.960 that a fire um evokes. And people right in realizing 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:14.520 that they can get attention from this or pleasure from this, 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:16.840 from the attention that the fire gets, because the fire 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:21.440 always gets attention. It's pretty true. Um. Then there's another 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.680 color classification, delinquent fire setter, and this is eleven to 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:29.040 twelve year old and and generally these are these are 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:32.800 individuals who uh set the fire. And then they're denying 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.640 personal liability for the fire. They're blaming others, and it's 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.440 generally more of a hyperactivity and impulsive things. So it's 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:42.480 kind of a um, a continuation of that experimental curiosity, 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:47.400 but that has more than just you know, lacking control 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.240 over and the impulse control is pretty important. Impulse control. 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:52.040 And so they're like, I'd like to set a fire 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:54.920 and bam, they're already setting it. Uh. Then there's then 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:58.840 they also classify revenge fire setters. And so again this 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.960 according to what we discussed earlier, this would not be 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:05.040 a pyromaniac. But this is why it gets so murky, right, 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:07.719 because it's been studied in many different ways and labeled 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:09.840 in many different ways. Right, these would be this would 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.720 be like a fifteen year year old or older. And uh, 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:15.800 they may be taking revenge against the society, a person, 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:19.240 an institution of taking their group. It could be perceived 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.880 wrong or a real wrong. Um. And uh. These fire 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:27.159 setters generally expressed anger before the fire and relief after. Um. 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:30.760 They often come from intact families with cold, withholding parents 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:35.119 in a paranoid way of thinking. That's really interesting again, UM, 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:38.600 I mean I keep seeing markers of narcissism because usually 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.960 with people who are ncissistic. They have parents who have 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.159 turned away from them, which makes them turn inward and 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:47.640 began to become you know, the seats of narcissisms begin 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.119 to grow. So that's sort of interesting to hear that. Cool. 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:52.760 And then the the other category that they lay out 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.920 in this article disordered coping fire setters and this is 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:00.840 generally early childhood on set um and the these these 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:03.600 are tend tend to be very dangerous. Uh, this is 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:07.760 a situation where fire is a learned response to stress. 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:12.280 They're generally male, and these fire set as they experience 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:14.680 problems with with pretty much every aspect of their life. 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.360 They would come with a from a history of violence. Uh, 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:21.000 there's you know, abuse, neglect issues at home and uh, 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:24.800 they will set a fire up say every day, and 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:26.679 in the size doesn't matter. It might be you know, 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:29.639 just burning something in the sink or setting fire to 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:33.080 a tool shed. Um. Uh, you know, it doesn't matter 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:36.360 to them, but setting the fire like that lowers the stress. 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:40.800 It's like it's just stress reliefs mechanism. That's pretty interesting. Um. Alright, 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:42.720