What Motivates a Firefighter Arsonist?

It's certainly the last thing we would expect from someone who's supposed to put out fires, but a Lowcountry firefighter now faces five arson charges.  Authorities say 21-year old Bryan Yeager set five fires over a year's time.  Yeager was a firefighter with the Lady's Island-Saint Helena Fire District.  Unfortunately, this isn't the first time we've heard of a case like this.

Clinical Psychologist Dr. Bryant Welch says the bigger the flames, perhaps the bigger the thrill an arsonist gets from knowing he's the culprit.

"When you examine these people, there is an enormous grandiosity to them that that they are able to fool people and see the kind of concern that they have been able to generate in the community,” Welch said.  “So there's a lot of satisfaction at the attention that this receives."

But what's so unbelievable here is that Bryan Yeager was part of an honorable profession...and is expected to be sold-out against his very act.

"While it strikes people as very odd and very alarming, it's something that's been around in the mental health field for decades now,” Welch said. "They start holding themselves up as a paragon of virtue, whether it's as a firefighter, minister or public official.  But they get on a soapbox and start preaching about the very thing they are struggling with themselves.”

And now fellow firefighters are dealing with a struggle...fearing this ordeal will tarnish their name.

The Lady's Island -Saint Helena fire officials tell us they have briefed all their employees about the situation and encourage them to use their peer groups if they need support.  Beaufort County also offers counseling services if they should need it.

To read more about other “firefighter arson” cases, click here: http://www.state.sc.us/forest/lear.htm
http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/tr-141-508.pdf