Devil's Night Fires Sweep the Nation

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Oct 23, 2000 | by John Elvin, | Thomas Cipriano

A strange, new pre-Halloween tradition has taken hold among angry youth across America: arson. While police take extra precautions, experts debate the causes.

A great song should destroy cops and set fire to the suburbs," says an idol of today's youth, guitarist Tom Morello of the popular band Rage Against the Machine. Such talk by icons of youth culture is hardly music to the ears of responsible adults, fueling one of the hottest debates taking place in pubic affairs. Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush and his Democratic rival, Vice President Al Gore, have capitalized on society's increasing concern about the escalation of shocking and terrifying behavior by today's youth. Along with more consistent long-term critics, both candidates have targeted the entertainment industry as a primary cause -- though Gore's aim, some say, has become increasingly shaky as Hollywood showers him with campaign contributions.

Are entertainers and their Hollywood-mogul masters responsible when youngsters act on mayhem-provoking rants, raps and images? The industry and its allies contend that the bombardment of young people with nightmarish lyrics and incendiary images is not a trigger for youth violence and that efforts to curtail their presentations amount to censorship. Mature Americans might be forgiven, though, for reacting strongly to Morello's odes to arson -- which just happens to be one of the foremost expressions of youth violence, though sensationally overshadowed by unique horrors such as the Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colo.

While the debate rages, the nights are approaching when the country experiences more juvenile fire-setting than at any other time -- Halloween, and the preceding Devil's Night. Will the youth violence typical of these nights, particularly property damage and life-threatening behavior in the form of intentional firesetting, escalate as the presidential candidates debate? Responsible members of society will be on the alert. Some will be more than alert -- they will be out on the streets and on patrol, as Insight found in a survey of U.S. cities that have experienced Halloween and Devil's Night arsons in the past.

Of course, Halloween and fire are ancient partners, with expressions ranging from bonfires to torching an abandoned outhouse. But during the last three decades, young vandals, described as "drunken delinquents" by one crime authority, have created increasing havoc across the country for police and fire authorities. Gone are the days of soaping windows, smashing pumpkins and other relatively petty pranks. In recent times, these hooligans have endangered lives and destroyed property. Their "trick" of choice? Arson.

The Halloween arson problem exists nationwide, even occurring in pastoral settings such as rural Vermont, but it is most noticeable in the big cities. Insight found a number of specific reports of Devil's Night arsons from states including California, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Vermont, plus anecdotal evidence indicating what could objectively be termed a nationwide epidemic. These findings echo a statement by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director Jamie Lee Witt that "arson is a national problem that can only be solved locally." Statistics aren't available on a national basis regarding arson-related loss of life or property damage during the Halloween festivities but, more generally, officials with the U.S. Fire Administration say that in a typical year juvenile arson is responsible for 500 deaths and $3 billion in property damage.

Halloween in our time is a youth-oriented event, and so FEMA's assessment that 60 percent of all arsons are committed by persons 20 years old or younger is relevant. Researchers also say that juveniles involved in fire-setting may initially cause fires in the home environment and then, as they get older, move on to dumpsters, barns, vacant buildings, grasslands, automobiles and schools. Among older urban youth, arson also is attributed to revenge and turf wars in the drug trade.

As for Halloween and Devil's Night, media attention has been directed most prominently to the intensity of fire-setting in Detroit, where such activity has amounted to "gang riots." At the peak, 500 fires were set on Devil's Night in the Motor City. Fire "buffs" and newshounds from around the nation descend on the city, racing fire trucks from blaze to blaze. The situation even attracts international attention, evidenced in the appearance of Japanese film crews.

At one point in Detroit there were "so many fires we couldn't look at them all," according to John Tucker, a captain in the city's arson squad and a coordinator of community response to Devil's Night arson. More recently, he tells Insight, Devil's Night fires are about on par with those on any other night. But while that comment may satisfy those who campaigned to douse the fires and dim the accompanying negative media spotlight, it leaves unmentioned two important points.