10-13-04 Special Called Meeting of the La Porte Fire Review Board Minutes

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22% of the fires intentionally set, and 18% caused by electrical distribution equipment. During 1999, 24% of all reported non-residential structure fires were intentionally set. Intentional causes were blamed for 27% of all non-residential structure fires during 1994- 1998. * The causes varied by specific occupancy, with intentionally set fires topping the list for church, temple and mosque fires in both time periods. In 1999, the leading cause of fires in funeral parlors or chapels was an open flame, ember or torch; electrical distribution equipment led in the 1994-1998 time period. National Church Arson Task Force was formed in 1996. In response to a number of reports of church arsons early in the year and increasing concern about a possible racial motivation for these arsons, President Clinton ordered the formation of the National Church Arson Task Force in June 1996. The Task Force was charged to identify and prosecute church arsonists, help religious communities rebuild their houses of worship after fires, and to offer fire prevention assistance. The Task Force was to coordinate the efforts of law enforcement agencies from all levels of government. An Operations Team, made up of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (A TF) and of prosecutors from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorneys' offices, provided assistance to local task forces. The Task Forces and Operations Team investigated fires in churches or other religious properties that occurred on or after January 1, 1995. Between that date and August 15,2000, 945 investigations of arsons, bombings or attempted bombings were conducted. Four hundred and thirty-one (431) arrests were made in connection with 342 incidents; 305 defendants were convicted in connection with 224 arsons or bombings at houses of worship. Fourteen percent of these arrested were children between 6 and 13 years of age; 25% were between 14 and 17 years old. One-third were between 18 and 24. * While some arsons were racially motivated, they found the usual range of other motives such as vandalism, pyromania or mental health issues, burglary cover-up, retribution against religious authorities, other disputes and financial profit. Their study also indicated that church arson has fallen since the inception of the Task Force.** Nationally, intentionally set fires in these properties hit two consecutive (but close) low points in 1997 and 1998, below any other year since the first available data in 1980. (See Table 2 and Figure 1.) Religious and funeral property fires were more common on weekends. Sunday was the peak day for fires in churches, other places of worship and funeral homes with 18-19% of these incidents. Despite this peak, two-thirds of the fires occurred on weekdays. (See Table 7.) oil Fourth Year Reportfor the President: National Church Arson Task Force. U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Department of Justice: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Federal Bureau of Investigation, September 2000, downloadable from httl)://w.....".....atf.gov/pub/gen nub/report2000/ ** Second Year Reportfor the President: National Church Arson Task Force. U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Department of Justice: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Federal Bureau of Investigation, October 1998, downloadable from httn:/iwww.usdoi.gov!crtlchurch arsoniarson98.html Fires in Religious and Funeral Properties. 12/03 3 NFP A Fire Analysis and Research, Quincy, MA