AN OUTBREAK OF COPYCAT FIRE RAISING

A dangerous outbreak of fire setting occurred on two wards of a Bristo l Psychiatric Hospital, in which six patients set eight fires over a f ive-week period. Orle was the Intensive Care Unit, the other an admiss ion ward serving the inner city of Bristol. Five of the six patients h ad moved between the two wards. The sequence of fires is in part expla ined by 'copycat' behaviour. The fires were set at a time when the hos pital was particularly vulnerable because of major service changes. We emphasize the institutional and situational variables that led to dis turbed behaviour in a vulnerable group of individuals, with inadequate controls over tension and anxiety.