JOHN LEONARD ORR - FIRE STARTER

TARON EGERTON BRINGS THE TRUE STORY OF THE SERIAL ARSONIST TO LIFE IN SMOKE

- • By Kylie Walters

While playing an arson investigator who leads a secret double-life as a prolific fire-starter terrorising his neighbourhood, Taron Egerton is disturbingly magnetic. However, the only thing more unsettling than watching the Apple TV+ crime drama Smoke is the shocking true story behind it.

John Leonard Orr inspired Egerton’s Dave Gudsen. In the '80s, the fire captain had a reputation in Southern California for being able to identify the causes of fires and the devices used to start them when no-one else could.

In October 1984, he was one of the first on the scene at Ole's Home Centre in South Pasadena when it went up in flames. The blaze, which killed four people, was quickly ruled an accident by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Only Orr believed it was deliberate. It would take some years to prove, but he was right, having known all along because Orr was the one who had started the fire.