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Kissimmee Arson Defense
Arson is unique among serious felonies: the State's case is built not on witnesses but on a scientific opinion about how a fire started — and fire science has one of the most troubled histories in all of forensics. Determinations once treated as gospel (pour patterns, crazed glass, “accelerant” burn indicators) have been discredited by modern fire research, and convictions built on them have been overturned nationwide. When an investigator writes “incendiary,” that conclusion deserves an independent expert, not deference.
If investigators are asking you questions about a fire — your house, your car, your business — get counsel before you give any statement or sign any insurance examination. Call or text 407-846-8008.
The Charges
• First-degree arson — § 806.01(1): willfully and unlawfully (or during any felony) damaging by fire or explosion a dwelling (occupied or not), a structure where people are normally present — schools, churches, businesses during occupancy hours, jails, hospitals — or any structure the person knew or should have known was occupied. A first-degree felony: up to 30 years.
• Second-degree arson — § 806.01(2): any other structure — including vehicles, vessels, tents, and enclosed buildings of any kind. A second-degree felony: up to 15 years.
• Injuries escalate it further — § 806.031: bodily harm to anyone, including firefighters, adds a first-degree misdemeanor; great bodily harm adds a second-degree felony — on top of the arson itself.
“Structure” is defined sweepingly, and burning your own property is still arson when done unlawfully — which is where insurance-motive theories enter.
How Arson Cases Are Defended
• Cause and origin, re-examined. Accidental causes — electrical faults, appliances, smoking materials, lightning, spontaneous ignition — are eliminated on paper far faster than science justifies. A qualified defense fire expert re-walks the scene data, and “undetermined” is often the honest answer. Undetermined is reasonable doubt.
• The identity gap. Even a genuinely set fire needs a defendant. Presence, motive, and financial stress are suspicion, not proof — and alibi, timeline, and surveillance work carry real weight.
• The insurance trap. Fire claims trigger examinations under oath by insurer counsel running parallel to the criminal investigation. What you say there is discoverable and devastating when unprepared. Criminal counsel must coordinate — or pause — the claim before you testify to anything.
• Burned evidence cuts both ways. Scenes get bulldozed, samples degrade, and chain-of-custody on debris is fragile. Preservation demands go out on day one.
Frequently Asked Questions
My house fire is being called “suspicious” and the insurer won't pay. Am I a suspect?
Treat yourself as one. Decline interviews, pause the claim communications, and get counsel between you and both investigations — civil and criminal — immediately.
The fire marshal says a dog alerted to accelerant.
Canine alerts require laboratory confirmation, and unconfirmed alerts are notoriously unreliable. The lab reports, not the dog, are the evidence — and they're attackable.
It was my own car.
Burning your own property unlawfully is still chargeable — and with an insurance claim attached, it becomes fraud exposure too. Nothing about “it was mine” makes this safe to discuss uncounseled.
What about a fire started accidentally — a bonfire, fireworks, a cigarette?
Arson requires willful, unlawful burning. Accidents and negligence are not first-degree arson, no matter how bad the damage — holding the State to that line is the defense.
Make the Science Prove Itself
Chad Seibel is a former prosecutor who knows how fire cases are assembled — and how modern fire science takes them apart. Call or text 407-846-8008 for a free, confidential consultation. Office visits are by appointment only.