Was it an accident?

ELECTRICITY THE PERFECT TOOL FOR ARSONISTS
SOME THOUGHTS TO PONDER THE NEXT TIME YOU RESPOND TO AN ELECTRICAL FIRE.


You may not give it a thought but Electricity is the perfect tool to use for an Arson Fire
and with all the DIY types who disregard the rules involved with electricity what better way to cover your tracks.
Of course Arson by Electricity takes much longer to happen but that makes it even more likely a suspect will never get caught.
Take the following scenario.
A fire is reported in an old bar and restaurant
and after the fire is put out the investigators beging there work.
It appears that the fire started in an old fused switch which serves the beer coolers.
The Investigators note that the fuses in the switch were over sized and allowed a short circuit in a compressor to cause the fire because an additional problem of no ground wire was involved. It is also noted that there is much poor quality
wiring in the basement as one would suspect in an old bar that has had several owners
and who have either done there own work or hired less than qualified persons to do it.
Sound familiar .
The Fire is ruled accidental due to faulty wiring case closed.
But the question is was it realy faulty wiring by poor training that is a case of gross negligence in which this case only Civil Penalties are usually involved after an insurance company goes after the individuals who did the faulty work.
Or is it a much more sinister case of Planned long term ARSON.
All to often these types of fires were faulty wiring is involved go under investigated
because it fits the usual pattern of old bar multiple owners , work by unqualified individuals.
known or in many cases un known as all to often, bars and restaurants go bankrupt, and all records are lost.
The professional arsonist knows he can get away clean because it looks like faulty work.
and after 5 to 10 years all memories of who did what get lost.
By now your saying to your self Professional arsonist who uses electric as his tool right!!
but lets play the game out.
Lets take this Bar owner a real sleaze who does not pay his bills and is looking for a way out through arson of course he will be suspect No1# if there’s a fire so what if he hires some one to make the wiring bad and thereby sooner or later a fire will result.
its ruled accidental and insurance takes care of everything else.
or how about this same sleazy bar owner hires an electrician under the table cash who does not get paid what the job is worth what better way to get even with the bar owner than to set the electrical system up for a fire. and get away with arson. or take the case were this property though a wreck is gaining in property value what better way to get rid of this waste pit than have an Arsonist set the wiring up to catch the place on fire.
how easy is it to get to were electrical equipment is in bars ,especially were bands have wires every where.
Changed your mind yet.
and just how easy is it to do Electrical arson it only takes a screw driver.
It is known in electrical cause and origin investigations that the loose wire connection is a killer .I recently stopped an impending Fire in a Rental store after the store manager called
me to report an outlet with out any thing plugged into it was hot to the touch.
the receptacle after examining it was melted down and charred and was getting ready to catch the plastic box it was in on fire. all do to the wire on the neutral screw not being tightened
properly . and as there were computers and TV Sets future on the line past this plug causing a draw on the loose connection a Fire almost resulted.
And why was the connection loose whoever installed the plug did so with negligence
the wire was not stripped back far enough to allow the screw to make solid contact with the wire. and the receptacle was of a cheap residential grade not the commercial grade specified in the drawing. In this case it was not Arson it was negligence by a contractor trying to cheat on the install , but it could have been an arson just as easily .
next time you have an electrical fire do not rule it out so easily, you might have something much more sinister going on.