DANCING INTO THE FIRE JOSEPH WAMBAUGH STEPS OUT OF RETIREMENT TO CHRONICLE TALE OF GLENDALE ARSONIST.

Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer

MASTER CRIME AUTHOR Joseph Wambaugh thought he'd retired from word crunching. Until, that is, someone sparked his interest in the true story of a Glendale firefighter considered the most prolific American arsonist of the 20th century.

Wambaugh, a former LAPD detective sergeant, is known for his meticulous research in such acclaimed cop-themed best sellers as ``The Onion Field,'' ``The Choirboys,'' ``The New Centurions'' and nearly a dozen other titles.

For the tale of convicted arsonist John Orr in the recently published ``Fire Lover: A True Story,'' Wambaugh moved from a landscape of cops to the singed world of firefighters. The book, which neatly boils down more than 8,000 pages of court transcripts and interviews, explores the makings of a psychopathic personality while detailing the intricacies of fire science and the uneasy relationship between various law-enforcement agencies.

``As the book points out, law enforcement is completely Balkanized,'' Wambaugh, 65, said from his San Diego home. ``There is no central command that was able to pull the strands of the Orr case together. To make matters worse, few agencies shared evidence unless forced.''

Orr rose through the ranks of the Glendale Fire Department to become a fire captain and one of the area's best-known and most-respected arson investigators. Although he busted a string of petty arsonists, there was one repeat offender, using a simple but devastating signature fire-starting device, that got away each time - Orr himself.

Before he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole four years ago, Orr's lethal handiwork caused the death of four people, including a 2-year-old, and countless millions of dollars worth of property damage.

Orr targeted homes, retail stores during business hours, fields of dry brush during stifling summer heat - nothing was safe from the obsession to watch the flames spread.

A stray partial fingerprint, initially missed by investigators, led to his arrest. The local law enforcement reacted with stunned disbelief.

``To this day, he has every hope of getting out,'' Wambaugh said. ``In my interviews with him, he never copped to the crimes, and I never expected him to. All he asked was that I follow the evidence. My experience with hard-core criminals is they never admit what they did.''

The Orr book is Wambaugh's first effort in six years. He had no plans to write anything at all, in fact, but couldn't resist when a fan sent him a video of a TV program on the Glendale arsonist.

``I said, 'Wow! Why hasn't anyone done a book on this,' '' Wambaugh said. ``So I started doing research.''

The trail led to various law-enforcement officers, prosecution and defense attorneys, survivors, victims' families and to Lompoc Penitentiary where the arsonist is in custody.

``The head of the task force on the federal side put me in touch with all the prosecutors and defense lawyers,'' Wambaugh said. ``I didn't run into anyone who wasn't helpful.''

Orr allowed the award-winning Wambaugh to use his autobiographical writings, some of which were used as evidence in the case.

Part of the case hinged on Orr's supposedly fictional ``Points of Origin: Playing With Fire,'' a novel that tells of an arson investigator named Phil Langtry and his attempt to uncover a serial arsonist. In the book, which was published last summer, the investigator begins to believe the arsonist might be a firefighter.

The manuscript for the book was seized from Orr's home at the time of his arrest. Prosecutors believe it parallels Orr's own arson activities while he worked as a fire captain and chief arson investigator.

The Orr case has been fodder for A&E's ``Investigative Reports,'' PBS' ``Nova'' and the syndicated ``Arrest & Trial.''

Although he didn't attend the trial, Wambaugh - who penned the first draft of the 338-page ``Fire Lover'' in just three months - studied videos of the proceedings, read thousands of pages of transcripts and interviewed all participants. It's a breezily written, often frightening narrative.

``I really thought I was retired,'' Wambaugh said. ``Now that I realize I still have the energy, I hope another great story comes my way.''

``Fire Lover: A True Story''

By Joseph Wambaugh

338 pages, William Morrow; $25.95

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) For the tale of a convicted arsonist Joseph Wambaugh moved form a landscape of cops to the singed world of firefighters. ``I said, `Wow! Why hasn't anyone done a book on this?' So I started doing research.''

(2) no caption (book: ``Fire Lover: A True Story'')