IN 1995 NEW YORK CITY BEGAN A CONTROVERSIAL PROGRAM that allowed builders and renovators to hire private engineers to perform the necessary code inspections.

This allowed construction to continue without the long delays that would have occurred if they had to wait for the City’s own building inspectors to make their regular visits.

As you might imagine, this led to widescale mischief and they found that at least half of the self-inspections were bogus or insufficient.  The city has been cracking down on the fraud and has revoked or suspended the engineering licenses of several businesses.

Saturday it was announced that the Bronx District Attorney will be entering criminal charges, probably today, against an engineer whose failure to properly inspect a construction job was a leading factor in the deaths of two FF’s on Aug. 27, 2006.

New York Times

The event took place in a 99¢ store in the Bronx when a floor that was supported by rotted columns collapsed with a company of ten Firefighters on it.  Eight were rescued from the pit, but two perished.  It turned out that the engineer being charged failed to perform the complete inspection of the building while it was having a new roof put on.  He is being charged with perjury for lying about his actions to the investigators studying the fire.

The New York Times has a good story that fully explains the “honor system” building inspection scheme and gives a detailed accounting of the fatal fire HERE.

AS THE VILLAGE OF EGG, AUSTRIA, IS GRIEVING TODAY following Friday night’s devastating  nursing home fire that took 11 lives, (HERE) the local police have opened a criminal investigation into the blaze.

Reuters

The small town of 3,500 is especially affected by the large loss of life in a community where everybody knows one another.

According to a police officer quoted on Austrian public TV, the fire took hold near a chapel on the first floor in a garbage container.  Only six of the 23 residents escaped unharmed.  Of the six that were hospitalized, one 92-yr.-old woman is still in life-threatening condition.  All of them suffered from smoke inhalation.

THE CAUSE OF THE TRAGIC FIRE AT THE INDIANAPOLIS ZOO on Nov. 10 (Firegeezer report HERE) has been determined.

An armadillo, just doing his thing, most likely pushed some bedding material too close to a heat lamp.

The Indianapolis Star reports:

The Nov. 10 fire in the zoo’s Critter Corner building caused about $120,000 in damage. An insurance company investigator told the zoo the fire probably started when combustible material, likely bedding used by an armadillo, was pushed too close to a heat lamp. The lamp was properly placed 2 feet above the floor. 

Pushing the material into a pile is known as “rooting” and is part of the animal’s natural behavior, the zoo said. However, “the type of activity that would have caused this alignment to occur had not been previously observed over a period of several years.”

 The investigator said that the building’s electrical systems operated correctly before and during the incident, that there were no evident malfunctions of heat lamps or wiring, and that the alarm and fire suppressant systems also operated as programmed.

The full Indy Star STORY.

THE FOOD PACKING WAREHOUSE IN WARWICKSHIRE, England, where four FF’s died under a collapsed roof, is still being searched and investigated. 

(Firegeezer archived stories including video reports HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.)

ITN photo

At a news conference this morning, the police superintendant in charge said that they will be searching the destroyed building possibly as late as the end of January.  When one of the journalists asked him if the Fire Brigade could possibly be facing criminal charges,  Det Supt Ken Lawrence made the bizarre statement that: “It is possible. We are exploring every single possibility and ruling nothing out.”  He added: “I still don’t know what started it. I am erring on the side of caution, treating it as if it was arson, but clearly I would add that I am open-minded about that.”

BBC News is reporting on this unusual press conference HERE.

Although it has been nearly four weeks since the fire, the dates for the funerals of the four firefighters who perished have just now been set.  The first one, for John Averis, will be held this Friday.

Firegeezer asks:  Just what is this lunkhead thinking?  Is he actually considering holding fire officers criminally responsible for consequences resulting from their decisions during an ongoing fire?

Personally, I don’t think the public would allow such a prosecution to proceed.  But it makes you wonder what kind of mindset is in the police bureaucracy to even consider such a ridiculous course of action.  The result would be a virtual cessation of all fire protection activities.

Flashback video from Nov. 4

A LOT OF FIRE MARSHALS CLEANED UP THE DESK yesterday before leaving on the long weekend.  Here’s a roundup of their findings.

*  Burlington County, New Jersey, Fire Marshal Bob Rose says the investigation of the fire that broke out Monday night at Pig Farm Recycling, Inc., has been completed.

The fire began in a kitchenette within a barn, Rose says. But he says things were burned so badly that it will never be clear exactly how the fire began.   The fire killed approx. 1,500 pigs and destroyed two barns.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has the STORY.

*  *  *  *  *

*  The fatal fire in a Rochester, New York, home rented by college students was caused by improper use of a fireplace. 

The fire killed two students and a third was rescued by firefighters while three more escaped successfully.

Sometime after midnight, one of the students set a fire in a working fireplace with no screen, using one or more artificial logs perched on two bricks instead of a metal grate.  The blaze somehow spread into the 10-by-10-foot room, which was cluttered with combustible items, including a desk, chair, bookshelves and a mattress located just a few feet from the fireplace.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle has the full STORY.

*  *  *  *  *

*  The spectacular fire in London last week that sent a huge smoke plume over the city has been ruled an accident. 

A contractor sparked the fire when cutting through steel piping during demolition of the warehouse.  His oxy-acetylene torch ignited insulating material.

The Guardian wraps up the STORY.

*  *  *  *  *

*  The fast-moving apartment fire in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Sunday was cause by a pot of food left on a stove.  The destructive fire killed three people and left nearly 200 homeless.

It has been classed as accidental.  The Assoc. Press STORY.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS REPORTING TODAY that the U. S. Government is stepping up its investigations of increasing numbers of engine fires in older VW Passats.

They say further:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a posting on its Web site today that there had been 78 reports of engine fires and two injuries. The German automaker has received 14,850 warranty claims over the engine fires, the government said.

The investigation, which began in May, is focused on about 345,000 Passat sedans from the 2000-2003 model year. NHTSA said many of the complaints attribute the fires to a failure of the ignition coil.

Volkswagen has provided the government with information on the vehicle’s three different engines and ignition systems. The investigation was upgraded to allow additional analysis.

THE RUINS OF THE THURSDAY NIGHT FIRE in the Kensington Market neighborhood of Toronto, Ontario (Firegeezer report HERE) have exposed still more evidence of criminal mischief.

Investigators have been able to  confirm the existance of a large marijuana farm in the basement of the gutted building.  However, they have not yet been able to get into the basement for further search because of the unsafe condition of the building.  There are so many layers of debris in the basement covering everything that they will have to peel them back layer by layer when they are finally able to get in their.

A police source told a Toronto Sun reporter yesterday that they are still not sure whether or not there is a body in there.  It is looking more certain that the cause of the fire was an electrical overload on the extension cords used to propgate the farm.  The bad guys were stealing electricity from their neighbors by running extension cords through the yard and feeding a network of cords inside the house.

During the course of their search through the house, plastic bags filled with drugs have come tumbling out of the walls as the investigators tear them apart.  The house has been vacant for over a year it was sold to a party of perhaps three investors.  However, it is still unclear today who the current owner is.

More reports to follow as updates come in.

TORONTO RADIO STATION 640 IS REPORTING THIS AFTERNOON that Toronto police have discovered a marijuana grow-op at the abandoned home in Kensington Market that went up in flames Thursday night.  Property damages have been estimated at $400,000.The electrical wiring at the grow-op may have caused Thursday’s 3-alarm fire.  Police tell AM 640 Toronto Radio there was an electrical wiring network in the home with multiple extension cords. There was no hydro (electric) service at the property.

For Firegeezer’s report on the fire click HERE.

THE CASE OF AN ENGLISH JUDGE who died in a fireball in his garden shed six years ago has been re-opened.  Andrew Chubb died in the explosive inferno just 90 minutes after he told his wife that he was leaving her for his mistress.

Judge Andrew Chubb

New evidence has arisen that contradicts the original coroner’s verdict of accidental death.  The judge’s body was never autopsied and he was cremated soon afterwards.  The fire department ruled the fire “very suspicious” because there was no known ignition source normally present in the shed and   Mrs. Chubb demolished the shed 24 hrs. after the death.  She inherited £1 million from his estate and then moved to Australia.

The London Observer has the full STORY.

In December, 2003, investigative reporter Nick Davies of The Guardian filed an extensive 2-part story on the inconsistencies and dereliction of the police that investigated the event.  The actions and statements of Mrs. Chubb were never accounted for.  You can read his report HERE.

Miss Kerry Sparrow
the “other woman”

Boston Globe photo 

INVESTIGATION INTO THE RESTAURANT FIRE that killed two Boston firefighters has disclosed that the fire was caused by leaking cooking grease from the exhaust duct.  The area of the exhaust pipe where it began was not readily visible and never checked by the duct cleaning company that serviced it in June.  The receipt from the duct-cleaning company indicates that they only cleaned readily visible areas of the exhaust system.

The fire department announced that grease from the duct oozed into a crawl space above the ceiling where it burned for at least an hour before it was detected.

The operator of another large exhaust cleaning firm is quoted by the Boston Globe:
“This is, for the most part, a one-or-two-men-and-a-dog-and-a-truck kind of business,” said Steven Schlesinger, co-owner of Tri State Fire Protection and Tri State Hood & Duct, which cleans restaurants in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, including large chains such as Burger King. “There are people with a boom box and a pressure washer who go out there and say they’re hood-cleaning specialists. But it’s not as simple as that.”

Boston Globe photo

In Massachusetts, there are no training, certification, or licensing requirements for grease-cleaning companies. State fire codes give authority over instituting such requirements to local fire departments. In Boston, no such requirements exist.  The Globe reported last week that city health inspectors had not visited the restaurant for more than a year, even though state regulations require the city to inspect restaurants twice a year.

Read the entire Boston Globe story HERE.

Firegeezer adds:  Notice in the story that there were two dropped ceilings beneath the crawl space.  When you go in there with your pike and pull the ceiling, make sure that there isn’t another one above it.  Never assume anything.