If some of the fires *were* arson, I suspect they might have been set by financially strung out builders and speculators to cover individual acts of arson.
I’m not saying thats what happened, but speculating on a possible motive if some of the fires were deliberately set.
Stuff like this used to happen in my previous area (New Jersey) not infrequently.
Edit: I didn’t read the opening two posts as being ‘funny’ at all.