In all times arsonists were considered pariahs of the criminal society. Partly because their motives are hard to understand, but mostly because the most known arsonists were insane to the core.
However, the most notable arsons throughout the history weren’t that crazy at all. People who did it weren’t the bed wetting psychos. They were either bored or pissed off. That’s the sad fact of life: the most deadliest arsons in the recent history were committed either out of pure boredom of the the teenagers knowing no better way to use their time or by the enraged bullies who were fought back and decided to regain some wounded self-esteem in such morbid and murderous way.
The Old Fire
This January (2013) Rickie Lee Fowler, the arsonist found guilty in starting the notorious Old Fire in California in the end of the October 2003, was sentenced to death. Back in the 2003 the fire he started killed six people, burned down almost thousand of homes and 400 square kilometers of woods. The total cost of this wildfire exceeded 1.3 billion dollars.
The Great Fire of Uckfield
This summer (2013) Adam Bushell and Geraint Purton, two teenagers from Uckfield, Sussex, Great Britain have set on fire the recycle bins in the backyard of the local charity shop. The fire ensued swept out the entire street causing more than three million dollars in damages. As the local newspaper reports:
Locals dubbed the blaze The Great Fire of Uckfield as buildings went up and people were evacuated.
Happy Land Fire
In 1990 Julio González, unemployed Cuban has set on fire the entire night club in Bronx. After having an argument with his ex-girlfriend González was kicked out of the club but returned later with a canister of gasoline. He poured it down the only staircase, set in on fire, and returned back to his home where he has fell asleep while the fire ravaged through the Happy Land club killing 87 people.
Julio González was arrested and was found guilty on 87 counts of arson and 87 counts of murder. Now he is serving 4,350 years long prison term.
P.S.: If you are looking for the further information on arson as a social problem then I can’t recommend enough the research done by US Fire Administration which is called Arson in the United States. It is a bit outdated but contains a lot of statistical data.