Arson in the South Bronx

In the late 1960s and through the 1970s, an epidemic of arson swept through the South Bronx. During 1976, at its peak, there were 33,465 fires of all kinds, triple the 1960 count of 11,185. In the '70s, the South Bronx lost at least 40% of its housing, and the Bronx as a whole lost over 300,000 residents. The fires were set primarily by the buildings' own landlords and tenants to get money from insurance and welfare, and their motives can be traced to the policies of the welfare and housing departments.

Rent control laws were a disincentive for landlords to upgrade or even repair their buildings. As costs, vandalism, and rent delinquency increased, but they could not raise their rents to compensate, it eventually became more profitable for them to destroy their building and collect insurance money than to than maintain it with its tenants. (Some others just abandoned the building, or stopped providing services like heat or hot water.) Arson became popular because it is easy to do and difficult to trace. Often, a professional arsonist, called a "torch," would be called in to do the job even more efficiently and untraceably. The insurance companies rarely challenged the claims because it was easier for them to pay it out and raise everyone's rates than to start a legal battle of trying to prove arson.

Welfare tenants, often living in buildings without functioning utilities, would torch their apartments because they would get priority for public housing and receive money from the welfare department for new furnishings. Also, junkies and "finishers," who would scavenge for valuables through the remains of buildings, would set fires inside so they could get items of worth from inside the walls, such as copper wires and lead pipes, to sell on the market.

For the first several years, there was no press coverage of the arson problem, and the police and politicians tried to ignore it, wishing it would go away. Most of them didn't know what to do about it, or were just cynical. National attention did turn to the issue, though; in 1977, Jimmy Carter took a walking tour of the area, and the World Series, Howard Cosell famously announced, "The Bronx is burning." In the 80s the situation finally began to improve. After a new mayor, Ed Koch, was elected, the police and fire departments got more resources to crack down on arsonists. Rent control laws were changed, welfare policies revised, and limits imposed on fire insurance claims. This along with new housing developments and community programs ultimately stemmed the arson.

Sources / further reading

• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6807914/
• http://www.thirteen.org/bronx/history3.html
• http://books.google.com/books?id=TFAYJ2dra88C&pg=PA7&vq=arson
• http://books.google.com/books?id=M6Aj0UOJ4bwC&pg=PT176&vq=arson
• http://bronxboropres.nyc.gov/en/PDFs/pubs/The_Bronx_Is_Booming-1977-2007.PDF
• http://books.google.com/books?id=i6m4Y_1rrTcC&pg=PA57&vq=arson
• http://round5.blogspot.com/2005/07/burning-bronx.html
• http://library.duke.edu/exhibits/melrosenthal/

Charles Lehner & Kenny Pinillos