ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Fire scare

I was passing by a house I have done work at in the past few years and noticed a dumpster. I figured there was some new project going on until I saw a window in the area of the last project (a mahogany paneled billiard room) covered in plywood. This is a 12,000 sq foot multi multi multi million dollar house. I looked in the dumpster and it was filled with charred wood. After I caught my breath and my heart slowed down I made a few calls. Turns out the fire started in the room adjacent to the billiard room, the hometheater. Fire destroyed theater and billiard room and rest of basement. Total estimated damage $1.5 Million. Cause under investigation but it was not my work. Possibly rope lighting or projector.

Glad to hear of your alleviation! One of the guys in our company got kinda tangled up in a fire investigation... a wall caught on fire on the exterior of a million dollar home in one of the ritzy areas near LA... a hot wire in an outdoor receptacle melted & made contact with the metal yoke strap of the receptacle with was grounded, but only by a #16 piece of copper, stove-bolted to the metal box... This all occured on a rainy day & water was pooled against the wall about 1-2inches... The now "live" ground wire was in contact with the stucco mesh which, now was connecting to ground via the pooled water. The stucco wire became a huge heating element!

As further investigation revealed, a previous "electrician" had wired this circuit into a 50A 240V range circuit via a j box in the attic...

Our guy only changed the interior recepts of the room, (to decora)... The outdoor receptacle was just a straight shot into the attic & the forementioned J-box..

Getting a call from our boss that his previous job caught fire left him on edge for quite some time! The company gave him a week off after being exhonerated!

-Randy

That is a heart stopper for sure Scott.

I had a movie theater I was wiring on Cape Cod burn while under construction.

We where staying in a motel across Rt 6 from the theater, at about 3 AM we where woken up by a fully outfitted fireman looking for "Bob the electrician"

I cross the road and see the place smoking pretty good, it turned out the Chief wanted to know what power was on in the building and could I cut it off. (We where running off a temp feed)

The final cause was the GC leaving heaters on over night unattended.

Bob