Arson

The Skyline Parkway Motel in Afton, Virginia after an arson fire on July 9, 2004.

Arson is a crime. When someone sets fire to anything (such as a building or vehicle) they do not own and they do it on purpose, it is called arson. A person who commits arson is an arsonist. Arsonists usually use gasoline or kerosene to start a fire.^[source?]

Arsonists use matches, Molotov cocktails and fire starters to start a fire. Arson is common in violent protests and retaliations against the government and other powers^{[clarification needed]}.^[source?]

Arsonists deliberately burn things for what they want.^{[1][better source needed]} This includes personal reasons, reasons related to money, or political reasons.^{[1][better source needed]}

Julio Gonzalez became one of the most prolific arsonists in history when he set fire to the Happy Land nightclub with only 6 of the 93 occupants making it out alive. Julio started the fire after the bouncer kicked him out late in the evening due to him quarreling with his girlfriend Lydia Feliciano after she recently quit her job there.^{[clarification needed][source?]} She was one of the 6 people to survive the fire. The club was condemned for lacking fire escapes or sprinklers.^[source?]

References

1. Robert E. Hales (2008). "Impulse Disorders Not Elsewhere Classified". In Stuart C. Yudofsky; Glen O. Gabbard (eds.). The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry. American Psychiatric Pub. p. 793. ISBN 9781585622573.