Fire: bright, burning, wondrous thing; the embodiment of life and death. It is easy to understand the fascination that pyromaniacs have with flame. It is, after all, a fascination that extends back countless centuries from the first discoveries of spark and fire. The Greeks saw fire as the embodiment of knowledge; dangerous when used carelessly, but awesome in its abilities. Fire is used every day to cook meals, heat homes, although not so much in Florida, and has many other beneficial uses. Fire can also destroy lives, tear apart families, and utterly consume homes. Fire renews the earth through destruction and reinforces the basic idea that all life must come from some death. It is something humans can manipulate, but is at its base level untamable and free. It is not hard to understand the basic fascination that pyromaniacs have with flame; however, what differentiates them from a person who finds flames fascinating more than most or even an arsonist?
An impulse control disorder, the basic diagnostic criteria is given for diagnosing pyromania by the American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM-IV-TR. It has six criteria that should be met to determine if an individual is a pyromaniac. The first criterion is rather easy to meet, they must intentionally set a fire more than once (APA 671). On that basis, without looking at any other, than almost everybody in the world could be termed a pyromaniac. Lighting candles, cooking food on the stove, lighting a campfire, or setting a fire in a fireplace, again not as prevalent in Florida, a psychiatrist would be hard pressed to find someone who has not deliberately set a fire or two or a lot more in their lives. Is ...
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... does now have a largely noticeable effect, than it is most likely not known of or reported. Most children try it, get burned, learn to respect the fire, and grow up. Learning to respect the freedom of flame, and the potential danger, is crucial to living in this world and perhaps, as the brain fully matures, most people come to grips with that knowledge.
Works Cited
Adamec, Christine A. Impulse Control Disorders. Ed. Christine Collins, Ph.D. New York: Infobase, 2008. Google Books. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th Ed, text revised. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2000. Print.
Grant, Jon E. Impulse Control Disorders: A Clinician's Guide to Understanding and Treating Behavioral Addictions. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008. Google Books. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.
On the fateful and unforgettable afternoon of June 17, 1972 Hotel Vendome experienced yet another fire. Actually it experienced several fires in different locations on this date. Electricians working on the first floor reported smoke coming from the upper floors, and a bartender reported smoke in the basement. All occupants in the basement café were safely escorted out, and 3 engine companies, 2 ladder companies, and 1 District Chief arrived on scene noticing ...
'Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?’ ‘No. Houses. have always been fireproof, take my word for it.’ ‘Strange. I heard once that a long time ago houses used to burn by accident and they needed firemen to stop the flames.’ He laughed.
In this article, The Fireman: Immaculate Manhood, Robyn Cooper reveals many concepts of fire. He says, "As spirit, fire is both purifying and heavenly, punitive and damning. Fire also symbolizes love and passion, as purifying and confining, burning passion as consuming and destroying. Fire is defined as a masculine principle because of the association of fire and heat with energy, life and power (man is sun, woman is moon). In relation to sexual generation, it was traditionally held that the spark of the semen ignited the cold womb to generate life.
Fire is used to symbolizes horror and death. One example takes place when they are on the train going to the concentration camp. A lady named Madame Schachter was separated from her family and was losing her mind. The fear and dehydration caused her to become delirious and hallucinate a fire. She screamed many time, this is shown when Wiesel states, “She continued to scream and sob fitfully. Jews, listen to me…I see a fire! I see flames, huge flames” (302). These screams were also foreshadowing the crematoria and the flames that were burning human bodies.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Arson has been occurring for many years and about 500,000 fires are set intentionally each year. Arson is defined as any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, the property of another or cause physical harm to another. Fire data has been collected since 1977 by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) and the amount of fires has been declining ever since. In the past few decades, there has come about a number of serial arsonists- an offender who sets three or more fires with a cooling-off period between the fires (Douglas, et al, 1992). There are numerous serial arsonists who have been caught, some of which include, Peter Dinsdale, Robert Lee Oyler, Thomas Sweatt, and Paul Keller. While the number of fires across the country have
middle of paper ... ... Retrieved June 16, 2002, from http://nimh.nih.gov/publicat/numbers.cfm. National Mental Health Association. 2000 May 15.
A secret label, hushed and never talked about, has followed my name since I was born; “Pyro,” pyromaniac that is. Fascination with fire, the uncontrollable impulse to start fires, has been circulating in my blood from the first day I was born. Smelting heat and flames would spark my attention no matter what my surroundings. Candle lit dinner tables, switch flick colorful lighters, lit cigarette butts and burning matches. Oh matches! How I love them. The smell of gasoline has always been a heavenly scent, burning paper and bonfire parties are two of my other favorites. Smokey haze has always soothed me. One crisp October afternoon, however, that soothing smoky haze turned against me.
There are many psychological conditions that can affect the way a person acts, feels and goes on about their daily life. There is one in particular that caught my attention and it is the "Addictive Personality Disorder" or APD. According to Daniel H. Angres, MD "addictive personality disorder is a condition in which an individual is susceptible to addiction", which can range anywhere from drug abuse to pornography to even gambling. People are considered to be at risk of having this common but serious condition when one shows aggression, depression and lack of self control. People with this disorder can go from one addiction to the next or even hold multiple addictions at a time.
Although fire is linked to human life, as it is essential for survival, not only its use for food, security and warmth, particularly in the extreme cold weather
Fire Fire is the element of change, passion, authority and leadership. Household (domestic) fire represents comfort, friendliness and human strength.
In conclusion, Fire has 3 different meanings which lead you to new thinking and insight towards the world. Fire represents change which is shown through Montag’s symbolic change from using fire to burn knowledge into using fire to help him find knowledge; fire can represent knowledge as demonstrated through Faber, and fire can represent rebirth of knowledge as demonstrated through the phoenix. Overall fires representation is not one of destruction but one of knowledge, thinking, new insight, and acknowledgment.
Sharma, L., Kohl, K., Morgan, T. A., & Clark, L. A. (2013). “Impulsivity”: Relations between self-report
“On average more than 100,000 wildfires, also called wildland fires or forest fires, clear 4 to 5 million acres of land in the U.S every year”. This fact is according to the National Geographic website. Wildfires are dangerous because of how quickly they can spread and the damage they can make. They can move up to fourteen miles an hour across land destroying everything they come in contact with. We have learned throughout the years how a wildfire originates, the impact that it can cause, and safety rules that one can take if necessary. Most wildfires are caused by people, though nature can play a role as well. Through the Mann Gulch fire and the Yarnell, we have learned valuable lessons that have led to improving our firefighting tactics, equipment, and knowledge.
...r it is arson, an uncontrolled camp fire, or a cigarette butt it doesn’t take much for humans to spark a disaster. Yet there is as well a few set by good old Mother Nature. On top of the effects on the earth as well as humans, there is only one thing we all can do and that is listen to our old pal Smokey the Bear when he says, “only you can prevent wildfire.”