Debt may be a factor in suspicious house, car fires

Voltron says: this isn't as entertaining as the "Rotisserie program" of an LA car salesman who was convicted of dozens of counts of conspiring to burn customer's old cars in order to sell them a new car.



By Ken Bensinger
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

April 21, 2008

Some folks celebrate their last home mortgage payment by setting fire to their loan agreement. Lately, some people behind on their mortgages are simply setting fire to their homes.

In what appears to be the latest symptom of the nation's mortgage meltdown and credit crisis, insurers, law enforcement officials and state agencies nationwide report a jump in home and automobile fires in the last year believed to have been set by owners unable to pay their debts. The numbers are small, but they're leading the insurance industry to scrutinize more closely what seem to be accidental blazes.

continued: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-arson21apr21,0,993521,print.story