What is the penalty if someone is found guilty of starting a damaging fire?
Witnessing the fires in California, I’m not sure there could be a punishment that would be appropriate, as far as I’m concerned.
While, yes, deliberately setting a wildland fire should be a pretty serious crime, if you have the right fuel conditions, the fire is going to happen sooner or later regardless of whether it’s a natural, accidental or intentional start.
Here is the relevant arson statute in California. From there we learn the definition of arson in California and the penalties for various types:
In California we also have aggravated arson for more serious cases:
And the penalty for that is more harsh:
Seems pretty reasonable to me.
I think arsonist are generally given severe sentences, (if caught). Arson, however, is much rarerthen most of us think, and usually is not “arson for profit.”
Also most arsonists are never caught. Unless they are discovered while in the process of setting a fire or if they brag about it afterwards, most of the time the evidence of their crime is destroyed by the fire that they set.
That’s the reason that there are so few arsonists in prison for the actions.
One problem with this is that intent should matter, just like any other crime.
I’ve got two stories:
A friend of mine in High School had a party in an abandoned barn. He had a bonfire, and it got out of control and burned down the building. The firemen let it burn. The next morning the chief was walking around the site inspecting the damage and he fell and sprained his ankle. My friend got in big trouble for this.
Second story is Steve “the Rifleman” Flemmi. He was the right hand man of Whitey Bulger who ruled the Boston crime scene for a couple decades. There’s a story in one of the many books about that era that talks about a hit Flemmi was trying to do. The target knew they were after him, and knew the cops were all on Whitey and Billy’s payroll, so he was basically doomed. He never left his apartment because he was so afraid.
Flemmi’s planned response? The guy lived in the top floor of a four floor apartment building. Each floor was a separate apartment. He simply had to wait until the first floor tenant left for work. Break in. Light a fire that would burn the whole building. Then wait next door with his rifle. The victim would either burn to death or try for the fire escape where he could shoot him. He had no concern for the second and third floor apartments.
My high school pal and Flemmi are both technically arsonists, but they certainly should not be treated the same. Intent matters for a lot.