Nothing fancy here—it’s just always entertaining when an arsonist accidentally sets himself on fire, especially when that event is caught on video. See, e.g., “Arsonist Sets Own Shoes on Fire” (Feb. 21, 2016) (video no longer available, but the still shot that I wisely captured at the time remains); cf. “NOTE: Trying to Blow Up an ATM Could Backfire” (Dec. 31, 2014). So I thought it was worth mentioning.
This is not as funny as the 2016 incident simply because here it was the arsonist’s arm or hand that caught fire, not his shoes. Something about an arsonist fleeing the scene of his crime with his shoes on fire makes that exceptionally funny. Why? It might be the illusion of speed that a fire in that particular location confers, or maybe it’s that a blazing shoe seems less likely to cause injury than any other item of clothing, given that the afflicted party might be able to find a puddle or something. I very much want arsonists to catch fire, but I don’t really want them to suffer. In any event, the explanation for this is only one of the many mysteries I could spend more time solving if I could figure out how to bill that time to a client.
Well, I guess billing it would be easy enough. The problem would be getting them to pay it.
Anyway, this incident took place in Corona, California. The target was a black sedan parked in the front yard of a home and therefore in full view of a doorcam. The resulting video, which I highly recommend watching, shows a man standing on the far side of the car and apparently tossing something at it just before it explodes into flame. A smaller flame can then be seen detaching itself and moving back and over a fence that surrounds the property, and that is about the point where you can tell this smaller flame is attached to an arsonist. He then flees down the street in front of the house, thoughtfully fleeing from left to right so he remains in view of the camera while also moving past a driveway gate that is not completely opaque, meaning you can continue to watch the blazing arsonist as he passes by. (The still image above depicts this portion of the video.) I assume this wasn’t scripted, but if it was then kudos to all concerned.
So far as I can tell, police have not yet located the suspect, who is reportedly a male in his 30s, between 5′ 9″ and 6′ 1″ tall with a medium build, with shoulder-length, light-colored hair, and a small fire burning on his right arm or hand. It is possible the fire has since been extinguished, since this happened on March 4. Either way, be on the lookout.
