It is just sad that people feel the need to get revenge buy starting fires and need to set them to feel that powerful.  Sometimes I think the media is what encourges would be arsonists to act, so they can get the publicity for themselves.

Steven, yes, it is sad and many out here in Malbu, CA, "The Bu!", think arsonists should get capital punishment, you should see what havoc it has caused. I think you are right about the media, if they would not blast it all over TV, then other arsonists would not come out of the woodwork in order to try to make a name for themselves. Someone in Hawaii, started a series of fires too, so you know this Media blasts coverage all over the World, that is really asking for trouble and darn dangerous if you ask me. It certainly does not help property values around here, not that they are hurting, they are pretty steep considering the rest of the country, but, who needs that? - Lance

Hmm....I think you are going to have fun with this one.

I was a fireman for 18 years, just went full-time real estate in August.

I, believe it or not, agree with you.  Not that I was personally affected but there are a lot in the service that I used to say..."Needed mental help"....and that was not a joke.

My life just changed, or my path of life did, and I knew the Lord was leading me in another direction so I left the service but I can tell you that many do need help.

That is a tough job, both on the body and the mind, and there are those that just can no longer rationalize.

We used to have something that we labeled the young and the "can't get enough" fireman with....it was called HERO SYNDROME....

Jeffrey, Indeed, I suppose I understand the syndrome, as soldiers who have never seen combat are gungho, until the reality sets in, hardened veterans, try to forget most of it. I have an over all good view of fire fighters, they save quite a few homes around here, everyone loves them, the bad apples, I suppose they are in any industry, it is just ironic when those you have come to love and respect go astray. I know most firefighters are good guys;

http://www.detailguys.com/nw2.shtml  

Robotic Fire Fighting UGVs and UAVs - Put Out the Fire and Save the Trees!

Every year, firefighters die fighting fires to save lives, but what if firefighters didn't have to die to save others? What if we had robotic firefighting equipment that used unmanned ground vehicle technologies - what if we used unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs to put out wildfires to save our trees? We have these technologies now, and it is just a matter of allocating some research and development dollars and making it available.

In a burning building, a robot can go and find people who are trapped or in burning rooms and open up like a pod and the people can get in. The pod would protect him as the building burned around them. If the building collapsed they would be safe inside with oxygen, and all they would have to do is wait until the firefighters in cleanup crew could dig them out later. Each pod would be found quite easily due to a home-tracking device. Robotic tractors could go through the rubble and retrieve the pods.

We already have firefighting aircraft, but what if those aircraft were unmanned aircraft - what difference would it make? It would be safer, and we would not have to risk pilots lives to do the flying and the robots would not get tired. Plus, the unmanned aerial vehicles would be less expensive to manufacture or because they would not have all the pilot controls and it would save a third of the cost.

Additionally, the robotic equipment would perform better, because they didn't have the weight of the pilots, that means they could take extra firefighting retardant or Phoschek. Let's use robotic firefighting UGVs and UAVs to put out fires and to save our trees.

- Well just a thought on the topic? - Lance 

A GOOD BOOK ABOUT ARSON FOR PROFIT, BUT IN THIS THE FIREFIGHTER IS THE HERO. SEE "WHEN THE BRONX BURNED." WEBSITE: WWW.WHENTHEBRONXBURNED.COM

John,

Wow, that is really interesting, thank you for sharing that link. Keep fighting the good fight and keep us safe out there. We thank you all. Lance

I was a volunteer firefighter at one time and there were a series of strange fires that kept occurring.  Guess what?  It was one of the "rejected" volunteers starting them.

Gayle,

Yes, it is unfortunate, we learned this when we started our Arson Watch Program,

http://www.lancewinslow.org/arsonwatch.pdf  

an Arson Fire almost burned down our neighborhood. It was started by two volunteer fire fighters who get rejected from the volunteer fire crews. Lance