While some states may be able to produce information on the number of firefighter arson prosecutions, other fire agencies do not even acknowledge that the problem exists.
[5] Motives for a firefighter committing arson vary, ranging from the need for excitement or thrill to the wish to conceal a crime.
Firefighter arson is also one of the major reasons the term "hero syndrome" was coined and brought into popular discussion.
Firefighters committing arson is commonly believed to be a form not only of hero syndrome but sometimes of other disorders and/or disabilities pertaining to the mind.
[5] In the 1990s, the South Carolina Forestry Commission and the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit developed separate profiles of a firefighter-arsonist:[5] This crime-related article is a stub.