California · Penal Code

PEN §452: A person is guilty of unlawfully causing a fire when they recklessly set fire to, burn, or cause to be burned any structure, forest land, or property.

Felony

What this law says, in plain English

A person commits unlawfully causing a fire by recklessly setting fire to structures, forest land, or property. The offense ranges from felony (if it causes injury, burns inhabited structures, or damages structures/forest land) to misdemeanor (if only unoccupied property burns and no injury occurs).

Read the full statutory text

A person is guilty of unlawfully causing a fire when they recklessly set fire to, burn, or cause to be burned any structure, forest land, or property. (a) Unlawfully causing a fire that causes great bodily injury is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, four, or six years, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine, or by both such imprisonment and fine. (b) Unlawfully causing a fire that causes an inhabited structure or inhabited property to burn is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine, or by both such imprisonment and fine. (c) Unlawfully causing a fire of a structure or forest land is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, two or three years, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or by a fine, or by both such imprisonment and fine. (d) Unlawfully causing a fire of property is a misdemeanor. For purposes of this paragraph, unlawfully causing a fire of property does not include one burning or causing to be burned their own personal property unless there is injury to another person or to another person’s structure, forest land, or property. (e) In the case of any person convicted of violating this section while confined in a state prison, prison road camp, prison forestry camp, or other prison camp or prison farm, or while confined in a county jail while serving a term of imprisonment for a felony or misdemeanor conviction, any sentence imposed shall be consecutive to the sentence for which the person was then confined. (f) For purposes of sentencing for a violation of this section, the fact that the offense was carried out within a merchant’s premises in order to facilitate organized retail theft, as defined in Section 490.4, shall be a factor in aggravation.

Verify at the official source: California legislative text

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