Orchard Press Online
Mystery Magazine
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CRIME BEAT
by Paul Davis |
Copyright © 2002 Paul Davis. All rights reserved.
Fire Lovers & Fire Monsters
In my last column, I wrote about arson and fire fighting. Combating the raging wildfires in eight western states is a tough, dangerous job, but the fire fighters there also have to contend with the news that some of the fires were intentionally set by their fellow fire fighters.
A part-time fire fighter in Arizona named Leonard Gregg was arrested and charged with arson in what the authorities called an attempt to generate work for himself. A Forest Service employee named Terry Barton was accused of causing the great fire in Colorado. More than a dozen other fire fighters are being prosecuted for starting fires elsewhere in the country, including one New York fireman who was arrested for torching his own firehouse.
The fire fighter/arsonist is not a new phenomenon. I’ve read of past cases where firemen have set fires and then hoped to play the hero by being the first on the scene. There have been other cases of arson being used as a means of revenge or for profit.
Coincidently, as I followed the news stories on the anniversary of the USS Forrestal fire and the raging wildfires, I was also reading a book about firefighting and arson.
Joseph Wambaugh’s "The Fire Lover: A True Story," is the strange story of Fire Captain John Orr, a respected California fire investigator turned arsonist. Orr, currently incarcerated for life for arson and murder, is considered to be the most prolific arsonist in American history. In addition to millions of dollars worth of damage to private homes and businesses, one of his fires caused the deaths of four people.
Wambaugh, the former LA detective sergeant turned crime novelist, has written another fine true crime story. I regard his earlier true crime book," The Onion Field," to be on the top shelf of nonfiction crime books. I think it’s good enough to sit along side Truman Capote’s "In Cold Blood.".
Born in Pittsburgh, PA, the son of a cop, Wambaugh ventured west and became a LA police officer. He moonlighted as a novelist, publishing his first two novels, "The New Centurions," and "The Blue Knight," while still serving as a burglary detective sergeant. His cops were real. They talked, acted and had attitudes like real cops, They lied in court to get convictions, they bummed free meals and they could be brutal to criminals, but they were, for the most part, true heroes. I don’t think anyone writes better about cops today than Wambaugh
In 1972, the film version of "The New Centurions," staring George C. Scott, was released. Other film adaptations of his novels followed, including the horrid "The Choirboys." The novel has been called the "Catch 22" of police novels and it’s one of my favorites. It’s dark, realistic and full of black humor and biting satire. The filmmakers missed the point and made a silly movie. They changed the realistic ending to a more upbeat one and wasted a good number of talented actors, as well a unique chance to make a great film from a great novel.
Wambaugh faired much better with the film adaptation of "The Onion Field," as he personally financed it. It remains one of the best-made crime films, with great performances by James Woods and other actors.
In "The Fire Lover," Wambaugh chronicles the history of Orr, whom Wambaugh describes as a "cop-wanna-be" and a "head-case who does not know it."
Initially rejected by both the LA police and fire departments, Orr became a Glendale fireman and part-time security guard. Wambaugh writes about his aggressive crime fighting as a Sears’ security guard and on the job as a fire inspector (he chased criminals in his fire department vehicle). His antics caused some contention, and a good bit of ridicule, from the real cops.
Orr would go on to become a respected arson investigator, writing articles for trade and professional journals and holding seminars for other arson investigators. He had an uncanny ability to be the first on the scene of a fire and for finding arson devices and "points of origin." Of course, investigators would later discover that Orr had the inside track on the arsons, having set the fires himself. Wambaugh estimates that Orr set more than 2,000 fires over a ten-year period.
Orr wrote and shopped around a novel called "Points of Origin," which was about a fire investigator who hunted a serial arsonist. HBO based a disappointing movie on the unpublished novel. Orr’s book was so close to the reality of his two sides that prosecutors would use it at his trial.
Wambaugh paints Orr as a pyromaniac and psychopathic personality and calls him a "fire monster." He writes of his sexual deviant attraction to arson and his odd relationships with several women.
In the book, Wambaugh details the relationship between cops and firemen (unlike cops, everyone loves a fireman…) and he covers what he calls "the Balkanization of American law enforcement." Balkanization is his term for the lack of communication between clannish, competitive and suspicious law enforcement officers. This is a serious problem that has to be resolved, especially in light of the current terrorist threat to the country.
Wambaugh tells how an arson task force investigated Orr after his fingerprint was found on one of the arson devices, which was made from a cigarette, a rubber band, paper matches and a piece of notebook paper.
In the last part of the book, Wambaugh chronicles the lengthy state and federal trials, utilizing 8,000 pages of court transcripts. The passages offer the reader a primer on the American justice system and Wambaugh makes the case that the time has come for professional jurors. I’m inclined to agree.
Fire is one of the most destructive forces on earth. So much so, that the authors of the Bible employ it’s image to describe the horrors of Hell. Wambaugh’s "The Fire Lover" offers a tale of what happens when a monster like Orr uses the destructive power of fire for his personal gratification.
I also recommend Joseph Wambaugh’s other true crime books and his novels.
Nonfiction:
The Onion Field
Lines and Shadows
Echoes in the Darkness
The Blooding
Fiction:
The New Centurions
The Blue Knight
The Choirboys
The Black Marble
The Glitter Dome
The Delta Star
The Secrets of Harry Bright
The Golden Orange
Fugitive Nights
Finnegan’s Week
Floaters
Contact the Author - daviswrite@aol.com