While that google search does confirm that this is a somewhat popular notion, this paper[1] seems to reject the idea.

[1] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi...

The book _Reporting at Wit's End_, a collection of New Yorker pieces by St. Clair McKelway, leads off with a profile of Joseph Brophy, for many years chief fire marshal of New York. Quite interesting on arsonists, both the professionals and those who do it for a thrill.