Fire at a ½ million house in St. Louis suburb that was being remodeled. Owner’s in FL on vacation. No one in house. Heavily involved when fire fighters arrive. Flames shooting 50-75’ in air. Fireman says to TV camera “Electrical problem”.
Rowdy

It does seem that electrical wiring is always blamed when the cause is not immediately obvious.

How many times have you heard a report which starts "The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined, but is thought to be electrical" ?

We had a fire call to an old abandoned rooming house here several years ago. Fully involved upon arrival. Arson investigators
determined the cause was electrical.

Funny thing, though...electric service had been disconnected (and the service equipment on the outside removed) nearly three years prior.

Hmmmmm (said while scratching head...)

Mike (mamills)

a friend of mine owns a storage shed building. caught fire 2 yrs ago,they couldnt determine a cause so the fire marshall said that it was electrical.(why you ask) without a cause the insurance company can not pay out!!!!! gotta love it!!!

Mamills
There was a fire in Long Island, NY and it made headlines as of electrical origin. A couple of days later it was reported that there was no electrical connection in the building at all.
Because people are so apt to believe in electrical fires, it is easy to blame the fire to electrical reasons.

Pierre

My frustration with this is they usually make no distinction between extension/appliance cord problems and premise wiring. Unless of course they are doing more than a sound byte interview which may give more details.

What is the ratio of cord problems to premise wiring. IMO it is heavily biased towards cords.