Prank or deliberate Arson attempt?

Was called to a customers Swimming pool sales store S.W. Pa. Because the lights and phones where flickering on and off. Upon My arrival and subsequent investigation of what was
going on I noticed that what at one time had been a small bath room area had been opened up and made into a showroom giving me a clue to fact wiring was in those walls and was possibly re-spliced improperly causing the flickering . I was right instead of an electrician doing the work a store manager had.
I proceed to open up the ceiling and was hit by a tub of Bromine Tablets used to treat pool and spa water a highly corrosive and explosive product if not handled properly.
When I called the owner he told me he had a dispute with the store manager couple weeks back and was worried they where put up there to cause problems such as an explosion or fire. I called 911 and officer arrived and I explained the situation about the open cans of bromine and he said yes he was concerned a crime had been committed wreak-less endangerment a felony could be charged on the individual who put the tablets in the ceiling for had I not have my safety glasses on I could have been permanently blinded. Not only this but the fact they where placed directly under a loosely wired junction box which was sparking and you have the perfect formula for disaster. In addition to state charges it is a Violation of Federal Law to misuse this product.
The officer took the report and turned it over to the detectives for further investigation.
So now the question is what where the tablets doing up there other than to cause problems
of a criminal nature? or a very poorly thought out prank either way some one is in big trouble.

Who says Ground hogs can not climb

Found this big guy sitting on my fence this morning enjoying a Mulberry Tree branch for breakfast. did you know Ground Hogs ( Wood Chuck ) can climb

The hot technology for alarm communication which never took off

The Derived Channel dialer in the 1980's along with Cable TV dialer where going to be the hot new technology's to take over for the old fashioned Direct lease phone lines that many community's had hailed as the savior of high phone fees and fast and convenient way to put many alarms on standard phone lines instead of tying up valuable copper pairs. That was till the big AT&T break up and the cheap and simple digital dialer with 2 phone lines for fire alarms came along and took the market by storm . With derived Channel as local telcos found out it was expensive to maintain the constantly supervised signal which required good solid clean phone lines something which was just not available in many big city's so Derived channel was all but abandoned and never had the big roll out that was anticipated only a handful of derived channel systems are even being used any more.
the city of Pittsburgh shut off its system over 10 years ago for fire alarm systems .Which ran thru Bell Atlantic.
Ademco and Radionics offered Derived channel dialer's for couple years and then stopped making them all together One of the unforunate failings of these units is they only took dry contact clousre or voltage triggers which greatly limited amount of info which could be sent unlike a digital communicator which could send individual zone info

At the same time Derived Channel came on the market Cable TV was making a big splash and engineers figured out a way for alarm signals to be sent over cable TV lines the now abandoned Moose security Products line was among the early producers of these dialer boards but unfortunately as one mid-west city found out you only needed one repeater in the field to go bad and the entire monitoring network could go down.
over 35,000 alarms with no service for an entire weekend.
So once again the digital dialer came to the rescue and now they say its day is coming but do not be so sure it is not going to totally die any day soon as lone as theirs a 2500 type connection business will use them over paying for cellular or internet based units which cost more money for small business. who do not have IP based phone systems.

Link suggestion

http://www.homealarmmonitoring.org/year/10-tips-on-where-to-put-smoke-detectors-in-your-home/

this is a site with many good resources

Insurance companies nonsense when it comes to dealing with hazards

Oh My God you have
Aluminum Romex or Round screw in Fuse's or Knob & Tube wiring or Asbestos or Lead paint you must tear it out or we will not write you a home owners insurance policy.

Yes insurance company's have definite concerns when it comes to these items but they are risks which can and should be safely managed instead of wholesale tear out out or up grade it because they can actually cause problems in doing so.

Take Aluminum Romex in 60's-70's when there was a copper shortage homes where wired with Alcoa and Kaiser Romex which is sized 1/3rd bigger than copper to handle the wiring load. when properly installed there is no hazard to it. But that is where the problems begin many electricians failed to properly install the wiring and there has been a rash of fires with this romex and CPSC says it should all be ripped out and replaced at thousands of dollars per home Nonsense.
Yes this wiring has caused many fires and fire deaths but in each cases it was where the wiring was improperly installed there are many homes and apartment buildings with this type romex in it and have no problems because it was properly installed to the manufacturers instructions
How ever if you start to tamper with this wiring taking copper extensions etc off of it with out using proper copper/aluminum wire and devices problems will occur.
So insurance industry risk analysts instead of looking at individual installations to see if there a risk or not want apartment owners to spend thousands of dollars to put in proper pig tailed outlets and switches which in it self can cause problems by disturbing the wiring.
This is a case of leave sleeping lions sleep.
This same thing goes with fuses and knob and tube wiring which is actually safer than modern wiring system because the wires are separated and in free air. but same problem if you do not maintain it properly you will have problems just like normal romex wiring and breakers
but again insurance company's lump all systems into one category there dangerous and must be removed.
One of the most dangerous practices of the green weenies and insurance company's is asbestos removal in many cases you can cause more danger in its removal by causing all kins of dust if not properly done and then filling land fills with this deadly waste. again encapsulate it and leave it alone it will be just fine.
But no we have to remove it causing bigger problems.
So once again we have created our own monsters by imagining problems than in many cases do not exists if managed properly.

That Phone call you never want

Its 8am your service manager has just called and advised you the terrible Fire scene where there is a confirmed fire death that you are watching on the morning news. Is in fact protected by a burg/fire system your company has installed and it did not work.

This is exactly what is playing out in a S.W. Pa. community after an elderly mother escaped but her middle aged disabled daughter did not.
A Burglar/fire alarm system was installed and never sounded. and there where no other single station smoke detectors.

So now the questions and answers begin.

No signals had been received including test signals for several months and system had been falsing and repairs suggested but not authorized. Apparently cats in house where chewing wires and several repairs done

the AHJ was never notified nor was home owner with a certified letter of potential danger if system was not fixed.

so then more ???

was the system installed to NFPA 72 residential standards ?

was proper UL listed equipment used?

was proper red fire wire used?

where sounding devices properly supervised to warn if wire is broken to them?

where sounding devices proper type and loud enough or did individual sounders on smokes need to be used?

Was there a 30 day mandatory test?

If the smokes where 4 wire type was proper power supervision relay used and where smokes wired correctly?

Where smokes placed properly?

where trouble signals received and tech sent or home owner notified?

Well I can tell you this much this is another one of those company's whose work I have seen and in fact I have taken over several of there systems and they where poorly installed.

A needless fire death again because they where only interested in making the monthly recurring revenue not taking care of the customer and making sure there techs knew there job and where doing it properly.

I wrote about just such a tragedy happening a couple months back in the expensive home where I found all the fire protection shut off

I will give you more details as I learn them and the outcome.

Fire never takes a Holiday Off

Silent Night
Shattered Night
Memories of a Tragic Christmas Time Fire

Based on a true story from Western Pa.
All Names and places have been changed out of courtesy to the victims families and privacy of the firefighters involved that day.

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

It was late Friday afternoon in December Christmas weekend of 1990 I was walking to the local hardware to get some fittings for the boxes I am using for one of the buildings I am installing a fire system In .When I spotted an old friend thru the window of the local Tavern Big Jim Kelly He was a retired City Fire Captain from Station 22# as big as a bear who stood 6’5 and 375 pounds. He was already on his way to feeling no pain as I walked in to say hello as I had not seen him since moving from the old neighborhood 12 years ago. I ordered a coke since I do not drink and sat down next to him and he gives me a big hug and handshake and tells me how big I have gotten since he saw me last. So what we drinking to today Jim I ask. Almost as stupidly remembering the date December 22nd. A date Big Jim would have haunt him and everyone at Fire station 22# that terrible day in 1974. Oop’s I forgot Jim
The bartender a young man in his early 20’s takes note with curiosity what all the fuss is about. It was a bad day for this and every fireman in the next City Ward over 10 people 6 of them young children became trapped and died that day just before Christmas.
Sorry the young man says You hear story’s like that in the news but never realize they happened in your own back yard. So Jim I say how many of the old crew are still around from those days. Billy had a heart Attack on the job and took disability, Pete and bobby have retired to Florida Lucky dogs and the 2 young rookies are now Fire Inspectors in the Fire Prevention Bureau I think it hit them the hardest that’s why they are inspectors trying to prevent what happened to that poor family. You know what I am saying were you not effected yourself when your good friend Johnny his brother and dad died in a fire when you were in 2nd Grade didn’t you have nightmares every night praying to god he would spare your family.
Yea I guess your right Jim it is always in the back of your mind .That’s Why I install fire systems and work Part time as a fire Investigator. I here the mother who survived and was pregnant at the time When Johnny’s dad pushed her out a second floor window remarried and moved out of town with the child who was born after the fire no ones heard from her since.
I bet the people who live in the house were my friend died have no idea it is built on top of a tragedy.
They ever re- build where the 10 died over in 23 ward # no Jimmy said it’s still a vacant lot. Some one occasionally leaves a bouquet of flowers there on the anniversary.
Ok Jimmy good seeing you again I got to get back to work takes care of your self and make sure you get home safe. The bartender would make sure that some of the guys up the street at the local Fire Station would make sure Jimmy got home safe.
Later the next day I am driving thru the area where the fire took place all those years ago
On my way to another customer about 3 blocks form the old fire scene when I decide to stop and look it is noon time and there on the wall along the sidewalk of 1780 Tracy St. is a small teddy bear and flowers. I could only imagine what had happened that night the story Jim tells everyone.
The home was in a row of homes along a narrow steep street it was wooden clap board with Insulbrik (asphalt) shingles 2 stories in front 4 story’s in back it was built into a hill side and accessible from only the front this would be what was critical that night in why no one survived. The young couple there 4 children and visiting aunt and uncle with there 3 children all under 10 had sat that evening enjoying a night of television maybe even watching” it’s a wonderful life” . The children went to bed around 9:00Pm more than likely and the adults sat and drank coffee or tea sharing each others company in the living room with its big live Christmas tree with old fashioned big bulb type lights that were old and they also had the same lights strung around the front window.
The 2 couples turned into bed on the second or what was really the 4th floor with the children.
It was approximately 3:45am when neighbors would be shaken out of there beds with the sounds of breaking glass and then an explosion. Clad in there night clothes they ran out into the street to find there neighbors home ablaze. It had snowed the night before and the narrow street was full of cars. One of the neighbors pulled the Red Call box on the close by Telephone pole as other neighbors tried to enter the home as they heard screams from above. One went for a ladder another a garden hose which was of no use it was frozen.
All were rebuffed by the smoke and heat as the children and adults were screaming for there lives. They could not get out the back windows 4 stories too high they could not get out the front the porch roof had partially collapsed from the explosion and was ablaze. Mean while Big Jim and the guys of hook and ladder and Engine 22# had enjoyed an evening’s meal and had turned in for the evening. After playing cards all night and drinking fire house coffee and munching on Christmas Cookies a local neighbor lady dropped off earlier that day. At 3:48 AM the fire house bells go off Box 2243 was reporting in dispatchers could be heard on the radio down stairs. Police report seeing large plume of smoke from the area Jim and the guys pull on there boots and coats and slide down the pole With the snow they knew this was not going to be good scene they were going to be going to Big Jim gets in the front of the 1962 open cab Seagrave engine and fires up the engine with in seconds both engine and truck and there crews are carefully racing to box 2243 still not sure what there facing .The chains on the truck tires clanging against the truck body as they go. As they make there way thru several blocks of stores and homes the dispatcher comes over the radio confirmed structure fire with entrapment young children involved. Jim guns the truck all the faster he can without crashing it they turn on to Tracy St. and can see the home ablaze a crowd has gathered. Jim can not get the truck all the way down to the house the parked cars are in the way. Luckily the noise has startled a neighbor who has come out to start the car but he is sliding in the snow the crews get off the truck and quickly move the car out of the way they get the engine truck down below the house and have connected to a hydrant as they make there way down the street. The ladder truck is not so lucky they can not turn the bend they will have to approach from another direction as other engines and police approach.
Big Jim and the guys pull up but it is already too late the first floor has partially collapsed and stairs have burned out there’s only chance is the front window but the ladder truck is still not there they try to set up the ladder they have on there truck but can not get close enough that stupid wall stops them from extending it up far enough .There is nothing Jim and his crew can do but fight the fire and try to get to the trapped occupants on the top floor .The ladder truck finally gets up to the house and extends its ladder they find a woman passed out in side the window they bring her down and try to resuscitate her. There is no such thing as a Paramedic and CPR in these days. She is loaded into a city paddy wagon which was able to get in close and taken to the hospital where she will not survive her lungs internally burned .They go back up to get more of the occupants but it is too late. The smoke and flames drive them back one fireman one of the rookies is knocked of the ladder from the blast of heat and breaks his leg. The house is now totally consumed with flames Firefighters do all they can to flood the house with water and put out the flames but they can not get to the back of it because of the close by homes and steep hill.
They will be there till morning light when they finally get the flames out and the horror of what has happened is revealed. The Coroner has arrived along with News Media and Arson Investigators this cold frozen morning there is nothing but silence as firefighters begin the task of removing the bodies down the ladder trucks rungs .After everything has been photographed and documented. The News Media and crowd is held back by the Police it has already become a spectacle as others in the neighborhood wake up and realize what has happened as it comes over their radios and TV’s . Big Jim and the guys are devastated
Big Jim of all he has found 2 of the children still a sleep in there bed the smoke so toxic it took the young ones while they slept. You could see the desperate struggles of the parents as they tried to save themselves and there children trapped by the smoke and flames and collapsed stairway as they shielded there children’s faces huddled in the corner in a group.
For Big Jim and the guys this will be a night they never will forget and it will haunt them forever. With nightmares of the screams for help that night some of the guys will drink it away and end up retiring early from the dept there nerves shattered.
In the investigators final report it will be concluded that the fire most likely started in the window area where the tree was located as they found traces of the wiring still plugged into the outlet. Apparently the adults went to bed with the Christmas lights still plugged in and due to there age they had deteriorated and shorted out catching the tree on fire which raced fast and furious to the open stairway. No smoke detectors where found in the home, escape ladders or extinguishers. Smoke detectors where just starting to come onto the market at that time.
The Investigators feel had there been working detectors the homes occupants may have been able to escape out the front porch roof even better the homes on that street needed fire escapes installed in the rear to allow another way out. The open staircase and poor condition of the homes wiring also were seen as contributing to the fire.
The homes on either side of the destroyed house had heavy smoke and water damage and were rebuilt to more modern codes and better fireproofing this time and were among the first in the city to have Smoke detectors installed in a effort get public support to purchase and use them. Jim would pass away a few years after I last saw him and he was given a Formal Fireman’s Funeral. Although he was unable to save the people in the fire that day he went on to become a Fire Captain and managed several commendations for saving lives. His stories and the stories of the many firefighters who protected us all in the early years are still passed down from generation to generation of firefighters as a reminder just how dangerous there occupation is and the terrible human tragedy it has taken a toll of.

Please remember this and every holiday season and every day of the year to please be careful with electrical items, and candles and cooking appliances. Because the above story has been played out in many big city’s for as long as we have been a nation.
Have in place an escape plan and practice it with your children have in place working fire extinguishers , smoke detectors and escape ladders if needed . Your family is counting on it.

No I am not dead from cancer , But some think I am

We would rather talk about dying from Cancer but not talk about the fact some of us who are stage IV do survive it.

By Nick Markowitz Jr. Stage IV Colo-rectal Cancer Survivor

Yes a stage IV diagnosis of cancer means your cancer is terminal you will eventually die from cancer the cancer has spread from a localized area to another organ. Not necessarily in days or weeks but it can be many years off and some have survived 30 plus with out a recurrence. Very rare but yes it does happen. People do live to lead long fulfilling lives despite having a death clock put on them. The 2-3% of us long terms survivors depending on the type of cancer you have are in a very exclusive club and if you think we do not feel survivor’s guilt you would be wrong. And even thou we survive the clock is ticking as to how long we will be here be it a cancer recurrence that kills us or accident or other medical malady you may develop. In fact many people do not know stage IV is in fact survivable I have had people tell me I could not be stage 4 and be here almost 5 years after diagnosis. In fact many people have mistakenly thought I was dead because when you hear stage IV it usually does mean the end. Yet there are hands full of us each year who continue to survive and who are studied to find out why because cancer is a very personnel experience with each individual as to how we will take to treatments. Let alone the news you only have days, weeks, months or years. I have had many people turn white and almost faint after seeing me on the street believing I had died from cancer.It was like they where seeing a ghost. I feel like John Wayne in the Movie Big Jake where everyone thought he was dead some days. Some times its funny lately it is getting very aggravating.

Just the shock factor alone is enough to put people into a mindset they will die. I have seen those diagnosed stage II-A- dead with in a year while others as bad as I was still here.
Of course what the Dr. has to say and when the Good Lord in heaven says it is time to go has a lot to do with it also.

It also depends how well people follow doctor’s orders and follow thru on procedures and life style changes. And how personnel they are with there doctors in disclosing everything.

While being treated for cancer after my major surgery to remove part of my liver and colon my dad wheeled me out side one afternoon to get some fresh air and there other patients sitting in there wheelchairs all hooked up with tubes and on the verge of dying are still smoking away Oh well there going to die anyways they tell me they did not even make an effort to live the Dr. says there going to die so they die.

I found the whole thing infuriating. But that is there choice my choice is to keep fighting and now that I have put the monster in the box making sure the monster stays there forever and eventually dies.

For more information on Colon cancer got to www.thecolonclub.com