Well, there are the (real) accidental / act-of-God fires, and there are preventable ones. If all the preventable ones were prevented? Most of the full time departments would become volunteer/call shops. Of course, if you look at the numbers, annually fires are decreasing, but EMS calls are rising. It's the only reason some full time depts are still full time.
IIRC, Joe, your asked a similar question some time ago - can't find it in search, it may have been on your site.
For other with an interest, I responded that there were two fires on my FD that were investigated, and determined to be _actual_ electrical (origin) fires, as opposed to "lazy/hurried/untrained investigator checking 'electrical' as a catch-all" fire.
One was a fire near Xmas, where the family (non-owner occupants) had not only done the cord-under-carpet routine, but had swapped out several 15 and 20A fuses with 30's, so they could run space heaters... on the same cords, no doubt.
The second one was during the summer months - a renter had installed a window A/C unit, but the cord (10 or 12 AWG, IIRC) was too short. No problem - he's got wire cutters and an old (16 AWG) extension cord... a little cut and strip, a little twist and tape, and PRESTO! the A/C runs!
(for a while, anyway)
Found the point of origin behind the couch where the cords were spliced.
[This message has been edited by DougW (edited 11-16-2004).]
