Your time to celebrate National Arson Awareness Week is drawing to a close. Did you know? Neither did we … until a near-assault last night involving a lighter, two cans of hairspray and some belly lint.
After that incident, we got to investigating and found that the whole country has been celebrating this famed holiday, with reports coming from Perioa, Tampa, even Fort Scott (it’s in Missouri).
For those of you still in the dark about this year’s festivities, the U.S. Fire Administration announced — to great fanfare — that this year’s theme is Community Arson Prevention.
A whole community of arsons? There’s another name for that: an angry mob. And there ain’t nothing that can prevent or stop one of those — except free cupcakes.
To be fair:
According to the USFA’s National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) data and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), an estimated average of 316,600 intentional fires are reported to fire departments in the United States each year causing injuries to 7,825 firefighters and civilians. In 2006, 10 firefighters died as a result of arson. In addition to needless injury and death, an estimated $1.1 billion in direct property loss occurs annually.
It’s also better than 2005’s theme: Arson school, although, not as educational (nor as lucrative) as last year’s “Arson for profit.”
In all seriousness, arsonists are everywhere. Take a moment to review The Daily Caller’s slideshow of the worst burners. If you see any of these individuals, alert your friendly neighborhood fire marshal immediately. Do not attempt to extinguish on your own.