The question is being asked why Huntsman, the selfie video arsonist, intentionally started 3 fires that became known as the King Fire. Nearly every reporter and several members of the public asked that question after Friday’s guilty plea. We tried to answer that question, at least in part, by releasing his selfie video. Interest in answering that question caused approximately a quarter of a million people to watch the video in the first 48 hours after it was released. The full answer to the question may never be truly known, but we do however know the following:

On September 13, 2014, at 4:36 pm, Wayne Huntsman broke into a home in Pollock Pines and called 911 to report a fire. Huntsman did not identify himself and was directed to remain at the residence. He did not. Within minutes fire personal were on seen. Either just before or just after the 911 call, Huntsman made a selfie video describing himself being surrounded by fire and telling his girlfriend he didn’t know if he would get out alive. Two distinct fire starts can be seen in the video. Fire personnel on scene within 15 minutes of the 911 call report hearing someone down by the 1st two fires. Additionally, the first aircraft on scene saw three distinct fire-start locations; two a short distance apart (near the house where the 911 call was made) and a third approximately 1/3 of a mile away in the same direction that Huntsman was spotted by two neighbors running and out of breath. The federal, state and local investigators clearly documented 3 separate areas of origins. We also know that Huntsman intentionally burned himself with a lighter, and was bragging to his friends about his early involvement in the fire.

Ultimately Huntsman pled guilty to starting 3 separate fires that became what we know as the King Fire, burning over 97,000 acres of forestland and causing millions of dollars in damage. Huntsman expressed remorse for his actions and indicated he was pleading guilty because he was guilty. Why, however, would a former inmate firefighter start a wild land fire?

Why does any criminal commit a crime? Scholars have long sought to understand what causes two similar individuals to behave differently; one is peaceful, the other violent. Early criminological models seeking to explain violent behavior included possession by demons. Others, such as Italian Criminologist Cesare Lombroso, suggested a person was born “defective” thus, being a “born criminal.” Under this theory, criminal revealing defects included sloping forehead, large jaws, and long arms. This analysis suggested that criminals were the product of atavism — in other words, criminals are savage throwbacks in evolution.[1]

A little more than 100 years ago, Psychologist Carl Jung coined the termed “hero complex” as a way to explain and understand certain behaviors. While not recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the framework of the complex has been used to analyze the phenomenon seen from time to time called “arson by firefighter.”

Seeking to understand human behavior, psychologists Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung pioneered the concept of psychoanalysis. They believed that much of human behavior is controlled by the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind serves as, “the storehouse of those painful experiences and emotions, those wounds, fears, guilty desires, and unresolved conflicts we don’t want to know about because we feel we would be overwhelmed by them.”[2] Jung described a series of complexes as a way to explain and understand certain behaviors.

Being heroic is admirable, unless the person’s compulsion to be heroic is so strong as to create the phenomenon where the hero has manufactured the crisis. The most likely explanation for Huntsman’s actions is that he was seeking a social identity through what he hoped to be seen as heroic action. It explains his need to record the incident, to talk to his girlfriend during the “selfie video” about the danger he was facing in the middle of the fire, the hope to get recognition by calling 911, purposefully burning himself to get sympathy, and ultimately his proud display (smile and all) of his video to the man who gives him a ride a short-time later. None of this, of course, mitigates his actions or his criminal responsibility for those actions.

As hundreds and then thousands of residents poured out of the path of the fire, hundreds and then thousands of officers and firefighters poured into the area. Fighting a fast moving fire under these extreme conditions is perilous and unpredictable. Perhaps the expression of remorse by the former inmate firefighter relates to his knowledge he very nearly killed Cal Fire Captain Kevin Fleming, 10 inmate firefighters and a dozer operator. The team was surrounded by walls of fire and forced to deploy personal shelters after conditions shifted. Thankfully, the 12 were guided to safety by pilot Gary Dahlen. http://www.verticalmag.com/news/article/1600YardstoFreedom

While Huntsman has been held accountable for his actions with 20 years in prison and over $60 million in victim restitution ordered by the court, many will still ponder why he started 3 fires. Regardless of the reason for Huntsman’s actions, let’s all give thanks and appreciation to those that put it all on the line for all of us by rushing into harm’s way — as, it was the firefighters and law enforcement first responders who were the true heroes of the King Fire.

[1] Rafter, Nicole, Rethinking criminological tradition, Cesare Lombroso and the origins of Criminology, 2003, ARTICLE

[2] Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today: A User Friendly Guide, Garland Publishing, New York 1999, pp. 15