NCJ Number
167440
Journal
Fire and Arson Investigator Volume: 47 Issue: 2 Dated: (December 1996) Pages: 19-21
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Cases in which fires were attributed to electricity despite weak or nonexistent are described to point to the need for fire investigators to consider carefully the possible causes.
Abstract
Citing electricity as a fire's cause is usually quite easy and often wrong, because electrical wires and devices are almost everywhere in any building. However, cases have occurred in which electricity was cited as the cause and in which it was later determined that arson had been committed, that dangerous processes such as welding took place just before the fire, or even that electricity was not connected in the suspected circuit. One such case involved the rekindling of a fire accidentally started by a teenager who was using gasoline to clean bicycle parts in a garage attached to a house. Another case involved the rekindling of a fire in the attic space around a recessed lighting fixture; the attic space was insulated with wood shavings. Other cases involved arced and beaded cable in a tavern, a fire attributed to a garage door opener, and a heat tape fire. These cases demonstrate how easy it is to err in determining the cause for a fire. They also suggest that in cases with four possible causes, the expert most likely to be correct is the one who has classified the cause of fire as unknown. 4 references and author photograph