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.

A MARION COUNTY, INDIANA (Indianapolis area) woman was arrested yesterday in connection with a fire at her residence this past Saturday.  She had left her two children home unattended when she went out shortly after midnight Saturday morning.  While she was gone, the house caught on fire and was discovered by a passing police officer.

The two children, ages 7 and 9 years, suffered heavy smoke inhalation and remain unconscious in the hospital.  Immediately after the fire, the Child Protective Services agency took protective custody of the children.  Yesterday the mother appeared in Juvenile Court in an attempt to recover custody of her children.  Instead, the judge charged her with 2 felony counts of child neglect and ordered her arrested.

Fire and police have been jointly investigating the fire and have determined the location of origin.  They are now awaiting tests to determine the cause. 

According to police records, one of the children injured in the Saturday blaze started a fire in May 2003 at a different residence.  The child told police and fire investigators that she had set a mattress on fire at a residence in the 3100 block of Baltimore Terrace, according to the report.

Indianapolis Channel 13 has the STORY and a VIDEO.

WHILE INVESTIGATORS ARE TRYING TO DETERMINE why the firefighters and fire inspectors stopped inspecting the Deutsche Bank building over a year ago, it has come to light that “numerous” senior chief officers spent every day there for several months without reporting any fire hazards.

When the demolition of the building began, several pieces of human remains were found on the top floor.  So the city had inspection teams comb the building looking for any more that might be in there.  The teams were composed of forensic scientists, medical examiners, a safety supervisor from the contractor….and fire battalion chiefs.  They were in there day and night, working in shifts, from March 15 until May 29.

So far as can be determined, not a one of them reported on any deficiencies or fire hazards in the building.

Read the Newsday story HERE.

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA FIRE OFFICIALS  have concluded that a house fire that killed two young women on August 6th was caused by a hot charcoal ember in a hookah pipe.  A group of University of Victoria students had been using the device earlier in the evening and had failed to properly dispose of the burning charcoal that is used to fire the special tobacco used in the hookah.

Fire Chief Doug Angrove said he believes this is the first fire in Canada attributed to the water pipes, which have been used around the globe for centuries.  In recent years they have been increasingly popular with college students.

Victoria FD official displays a hookah
similar to the one that started a fatal fire.
CanWest News Service photo

The Times Colonist has the full STORY.

LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON THE MANHATTAN District Attorney announced that a criminal investigation will be held on the fire that claimed the lives of two FDNY firefighters.

This is normal procedure for an event of this severity and was expected.  The New York Post quoted an unidentified law enforcement official as saying: “We know the water didn’t work. So you have to figure out whether they (the contractors) were negligent. If they are, they could possibly face under the law a form of criminally negligent homicide.”

CBS reports:

Investigators said Monday that a piece of the standpipe system, which connects fire hoses from the outside to a water supply line for the building, was found unattached and lying on the basement floor.

As details emerged about the flaws in the system, fire safety experts questioned why more thorough tests weren’t conducted, and one person involved in the project says the problem may have existed for more than a year.

City Department of Buildings officials said they had manually tested the standpipe on each floor of the building — originally a 41-story tower that had been demolished to the 26th floor — before taking it down.

But it wasn’t clear if or when officials had filled the dry system with water to test the pressure of the complete system.

Fire safety expert Glenn Corbett said that would have been the “only way to test the integrity of the system” and that more testing should have been done.

Earlier in the day Millionairemayor Bloomberg stated “…at this point, there’s no reason for anybody to think in terms of criminal charges or anything else.”