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An investigation of the dozens of arson fires in Los Angeles last weekend led to the arrest of 24-year-old German national Harry Burkhart. The case inspired Meghan Holohan to look up famous arson cases and the men who set those fires. Take the case of John “Pillow Pyro” Orr, who set around 2,000 fires that killed four people.
During an arson investigators conference in Bakersfield, Calif., in January 1987, several suspicious fires broke out. At one of the fires, investigators found a single fingerprint on a piece of notebook paper. Two years later, during another fire investigators conference in Pacific Grove, an outbreak of small fires occurred. Bakersfield’s arson investigator compared the participants at both conferences and found 10 people attended both. By 1991, the investigators formed the Pillow Pyro task force and published a profile, noting the suspect was most likely an arson investigator from the greater Los Angeles area. The fingerprint found at the first conference was compared to those of the 10 attendees of both conferences; it matched Orr’s fingerprint. When he was arrested in November 1991, police found cigarettes, rubber bands, and binoculars.
A book Orr had written earlier about a fireman who was an arsonist did not help his defense. Read the story of Orr and five other arsonists at mental_floss. Link
(Image credit: Reuters/Gene Blevins/Lando)
The headline makes it sound as if history is repeating itself, but this happened in Ocoee, Florida. A man was arrested for lighting fireworks at the fireworks tent in which he was working.
Guy Swindell Fowlkes, 33, of Orlando, was working at the tent at Colonial Drive and Maguire Road but had made arrangements to work at another tent location, according to an arrest affidavit filed in the case. When his girlfriend asked about keys to a storage unit, Fowlkes said he did not have the keys and began an argument with her.
Fowlkes struck his girlfriend, who is pregnant, in the left side of her face, according to the report. He then went into the tent and began to light up fireworks, directing some of them at other employees. He also lit the fuse of two firecrackers and placed them inside the gas tank of an employee’s car.
As police approached, they could see explosions in the distance. Fowlkes was charged with arson and battery. Link -via Arbroath
A prison break usually involves someone wanting to get out, but someone actually broke into New Plymouth Prison in New Zealand Friday night. Firefighters responded to a blaze in the prison administration building and found the curtains on fire. Police were called because the window was found to have been forced open. A 50″ plasma screen TV set was missing.
The level of security at the prison varies from building to building, according to the Corrections Department website.
The old jailhouse is surrounded by a large stone wall topped with razor wire, while a newer unit is surrounded by a fence topped with barbed wire.
Security measures include searches, dog teams, electronic security devices, cameras and closed circuit television.
(Image source: New Plymouth Prison)
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We all like to get off work early, but probably not as much as Michelle Perrino. She set the office on fire so she can clock off early:
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said Michelle Perrino, 40, drew suspicion during a meeting of Bayonet Point Oxygen employees when she mentioned the May 12, 2009, fire had started in a filing cabinet before workers had been informed of the fire’s origins, the St. Petersburg Times reported Thursday.
Investigators said a friend of Perrino told them she had admitted to tripping the main circuit breaker and adjusting phones to block incoming calls in bids to go home early without sacrificing the day’s pay.
A hungry dog in Llanfairfechan, Wales set fire to a home and caused £6,000 in damage. Paul Gregson, his wife, and two sons escaped the burning house just after midnight Tuesday.
John Morgan, of North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The family’s pet dog appears to have started the fire by turning on the griddle in the middle of the night. This is why all electrical items not designed to be left on should be switched off at the mains when not in use or overnight.
“The smoke alarm activated and gave this family the opportunity to escape safely. It demonstrates once again that smoke alarms really do save lives.”
The kitchen was badly damaged and there was heat and smoke damage to the rest of the house.
Three-year-old Alfie is a flat-coated retriever, a breed Gregson says is “slow to mature”. Link -via Arbroath
A deadly fire that killed nearly 100 cats at an animal shelter in Toronto, Canada, was caused by …. mice!
The fire at the humane society shelter in Oshawa also killed three dogs and some rats that were up for adoption.
An initial report from the fire marshal says mice or rats chewing through electrical wires in the ceiling are likely to have sparked the blaze.
