Gary White @garywhite13

INDIAN LAKE ESTATES As residents of Indian Lake Estates surveyed the charred impact of the latest round of fires near their community, some spoke angrily about an unknown person presumed to be responsible.

Apparently, they get some kind of thrill or kick out of it, these arsonists, Paul Dabolt said. Its crazy.

Investigators with the Florida Forest Service continue their quest for the source of the latest fires to threaten dwellings in Indian Lake Estates, a large community in southeast Polk County. Authorities have said they suspect arson.

Experts say Dabolt is correct: Arsonists do indeed derive pleasure from seeing the effects of the fires they start.

I know this sounds crazy and this is why the criminal mind is interesting to me but the enjoyment is curiosity, said Bryanna Fox, a criminology professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Its often about the thrill of being able to do it. They usually get a lot of pleasure out of watching the fire.

Fox and other experts described the psychological traits common to arsonists and the factors that motivate them to start fires.

Fox has worked for the FBI at its Behavioral Science Unit in Washington, D.C. She said she uses her expertise in forensic psychology and profiling to train law-enforcement agencies.

Arsonists can be assigned to two categories, Fox said, based on their intentions: instrumental and expressive. Instrumental arsonists set fires for a particular purpose, such as committing insurance fraud, covering up another crime or causing misery for a specific person, such as an ex-partner.

Expressive arsonists have more general motivations typically related to a psychological disorder, Fox said.

The expressive are generally the ones where youre setting it to either make a statement or to try in some way to get your feelings expressed, Fox said.

Based on the known facts of the recent Indian Lake Estates fires, Fox said the motivation seems to be expressive.

What is being called the Red Grange Fire in April followed a series of smaller fires in the area. A much larger blaze that broke out in February consumed 5,600 acres and destroyed several homes in Indian Lake Estates.

A spokesman for the Florida Forest Service said the cause of the February fire has not been determined.

A.J. Marsden, an assistant professor of human services in psychology at Beacon College in Leesburg, pointed to the results of a recent French study on arsonists. The study found 54 percent of arsonists have a diagnosed mental illness, and 56 percent have a history of suicide attempts.

The most common diagnoses are antisocial and borderline personality disorders, the study found, and arsonists are more than 20 times more likely than others to have schizophrenia.

Marsden said the FBI compiled a report in 1987 based on psychiatric evaluations of arsonists. The report determined that most arsonists have IQ scores ranging from 70 to 90, well below the average IQ of 100. Arsonists also score high on aggression, Marsden said.

Since then, three or four additional studies have come out showing one of the main drivers of arsonists is that sense of control and pleasure over seeing other people kind of freak out over something they created and manipulated, Marsden said.

An arsonist might be in a low-status job or feel a lack of power in his or her life, Marsden said. Lighting a fire that others must respond to is a way of exerting power over others.

Marsden said the uncertainty of the fires outcome, and the possibility of causing harm to others, generates excitement for the arsonist.

If it doesnt come to fruition and nobody gets hurt, theyre not disappointed, but while its occurring they like to be in the area or are very attached to whats going on in the news, Marsden said. A lot of times after they set the fire theyll leave and wait for the police to come and then join the crowd of onlookers.

Fox concurred that arsonists thrive on being able to manipulate the actions of others, who must respond to the fire the arsonist has created.

They feel alienated in society, so for them its like, Wow, look what I did, Fox said. They see it on TV and they think, That was me. In a weird way, its a sense of accomplishment. They have a sense of a little bit of power, where they feel relatively powerless in their lives.

Though fire crews were able to prevent the April fire from destroying any homes in Indian Lake Estates, the flames reached the edges of some yards, consumed at least one boat and vehicle and caused external damage to some houses.

The blaze also created inconveniences, as authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation of the entire community.

People drawn to arson are likely to have antisocial personality disorder, said Rachel Annunziato, an associate professor of psychology at Fordham University in New York. People with the disorder lack empathy for others and arent deterred by authority or moral codes, Annunziatio said.

People with antisocial personality disorder often referred to as psychopaths are more prone to destructive behavior, including arson, she said.

One theory is folks who have these traits are very hard to arouse, so it takes a lot to get them going, so something like arson would fit into that, Annunziato said. And similarly theyre not very aroused by the threat of punishment, so thats not a deterrent to them.

Annunziato said she hasnt seen any data on the gender breakdown of arsonists, but every arsonist she has ever encountered has been male.

In what could be good news for authorities investigating the fire, Fox said, there is a better chance of catching an expressive arsonist than one who sets a fire for a specific purpose.

The instrumental ones typically are better at covering up the evidence, Fox said. The expressive offenders typically are more disorganized. Theyre not thinking about covering up the evidence. They might have trophies or things that remind them they set the fire.

That doesnt necessarily mean authorities are likely to find the person or persons who caused such distress for many residents of Indian Lake Estates.

I would say the expressive cases are more likely to be solved and solved fast than the instrumental cases, Fox said, but these are very difficult crimes to solve.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

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Experts: Arsonists find power in scaring others - News Chief