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Posted By: WESTUPLACE Apartment Fire - 07/29/07 04:41 AM
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=5517836 This fire was caused by a tenant wiring the window air conditioner directly to the wall outlet (he cut the plug off) He admitted it on TV when he was interviewed. He and his family witness the fire start and tried to put it out. Robert
Posted By: Retired_Helper Re: Apartment Fire - 07/29/07 06:52 PM
mad I honestly think the fool that caused this fire is dancing right on the edge of a depraved indifference charge. Or does that only apply if someone is injured or killed? frown
Posted By: CTwireman Re: Apartment Fire - 07/29/07 07:14 PM
That must have been an old complex built long before strict fire codes for the entire place to go up like that. It must have been a common attic.
Posted By: renosteinke Re: Apartment Fire - 07/29/07 07:46 PM
I once saw a bus-sized "RV," that was towing a car. The car was carrying a bicycle. Strapped to the bike was a skateboard. This guy was NOT going to be stranded! Redundancy - I love it!

So... what happened to the 'fire wall' separating different units? Why were the fire mains inadequate?

I don't think this fire could have been so damaging, had it not been for the 'ball being dropped' by many different parties.

I note some discrepancies in the reporting. This is to be expected: the local reporter can't be expected to know much about anything - and the usually don't laugh
Did the guy bypass the receptacle? Or the breaker? A minor point, I suppose ... I just want to know how much of a fool we have here. laugh

I would be interested to learn if the fault that started this fire was in the air conditioner (so maybe the LCDI was doing it's job?) or in the building wiring (from the breaker being bypassed).

There are various legal principles, some defined by statute, some by tradition, that could be used to address this DIY disaster. If nothing else, 'reckless endangerment' and 'criminal damage to property' come to mind. Remember ... even if the person was allowed to deliberately start a fire, they are responsible for keeping it under control.

How hard the local authorities want to work is another matter.

I'm glad no one was injured. By all appearances, it looks as if the place was a fire trap that needed to be torn down.
Posted By: LK Re: Apartment Fire - 07/29/07 09:27 PM
Originally Posted by CTwireman
That must have been an old complex built long before strict fire codes for the entire place to go up like that. It must have been a common attic.


They don't have to be old, for the entire place to go up, we have see plenty of new 30 units and more, both condo, and town house, go to the ground, and there was water to fight them, and they had fire walls, when these buildings get going they they are like a fire storm.
Posted By: Texas_Ranger Re: Apartment Fire - 07/31/07 12:45 PM
Looks like apartment complexes with interior brick/concrete walls and either pired concrete ceilings or wood with very substantial timbers and large amounts of non-combustible insulation (we're talking 4x10 beams and an absolute minimum of 4" of sand on top) do have their merits... usually apartment fires here keep confined to the unit where the fire originated.
Posted By: brianl703 Re: Apartment Fire - 07/31/07 05:39 PM
Originally Posted by LK
They don't have to be old, for the entire place to go up, we have see plenty of new 30 units and more, both condo, and town house, go to the ground


The townhouse across the street from mine almost burned to the ground and the townhouses on either side were pretty much unharmed.

The standard here is two layers of 1" drywall in a metal track as the party/common wall, and type X drywall installed under the roof adjacent to the party wall. I've seen it installed about 4 feet from the party wall. This is to prevent fire spread from the adjacent roof.

Guess what..I've seen townhouses built without the type X drywall under the roof. Somehow they passed the building inspection.

Roof replacements are another problem..how many roofing contractors do you suppose are going to re-install the type X drywall, if it was even there to begin with?

Then there's the townhouse I saw with concrete block party wall that had holes in it where someone ran a coaxial cable for a master antenna TV system. It ran from attic to attic through a 1" hole. Doesn't that kind of defeat the fire protection that the party wall provides?
Posted By: Samurai Re: Apartment Fire - 08/07/07 05:00 AM
I think fire codes become wishful planning at 2000 degrees
I had someone call me and ask if it was ok to change his wife's (20A) tanning bed to a 40A breaker so it would stop tripping - I so badly wanted to tell him to urinate on the plug so the electrolytes would improve the flow. (I controlled myself)
Posted By: Gloria Re: Apartment Fire - 08/07/07 07:21 AM
Wow! that's strange. We never had fires caused by A/C units yet, but I must say there aren't too many set up yet on the buildings. If one would go off, many homes would be destroyed in a house like ours.
Here the main fire cause is the coffee machine, and it usually burns 2-3 flats, and upwards 6-8 others filled with smoke.
http://hampage.hu/trams/vaciutesujpest/10-es/1781-10.jpg
Posted By: Alan Belson Re: Apartment Fire - 08/07/07 11:01 AM
A combination motorbike and sidecar! I had a 'combo' in the sixties, [ Norton Atlas ], till I got a car. Hard to steer left [in England ] as the sidecar tended to lift off, but it went round right-handers like it was on rails.

Delaying fire spread to give occupants time to escape and the FD time to limit damage to surrounding properties is about the best one can hope for. The fireproof dwelling does not exist; wood, brick, stone or cement, every home is full of dry and highly combustible materials.
Posted By: WESTUPLACE Re: Apartment Fire - 08/07/07 01:08 PM
Here is a video of the apt fire
http://tvnewshouston.com/cpg1410/thumbnails.php?album=96
Posted By: Texas_Ranger Re: Apartment Fire - 08/07/07 01:31 PM
Wait, now it gets weird... are you in any way related to Hamster? I've been reading his page a LOT since I'm a streetcar freak and spent 3 days in Budapest last week (since it seems to be the final days of the UVs).
Posted By: Gloria Re: Apartment Fire - 08/09/07 01:49 PM
Scandals: Footwear to be ashamed of.

laugh
Posted By: Gloria Re: Apartment Fire - 08/09/07 01:50 PM
You've been here and didn't call?
Posted By: Alan Belson Re: Apartment Fire - 08/09/07 09:08 PM
Happy Birthday Gloria.
Posted By: Texas_Ranger Re: Apartment Fire - 08/10/07 08:52 AM
Originally Posted by Gloria
You've been here and didn't call?

Sorry, It was a pretty spontaneous trip after I heard the UV tram cars will probably go out of service by August 20th. Probably I'll return in September or early October though. I just love that city!

Occasionally you'll look at a street, rub your eyes and ask yourself: "Am I really in Budapest or in the middle of Vienna???" though laugh
Posted By: DougW Re: Apartment Fire - 08/10/07 02:37 PM
I've seen a similar situation.

Occupant had an old A/C unit with 10 or 12AWG attached cord that he "twist spliced" to a dollar store type extension cord (16 AWG) to make up the three feet he was short to reach the outlet.

After we'd extinguished the fire, our investigators followed the "vee" to a spot behind the couch; they couldn't explain why the fire started 12" off the floor away from ashtrays or receptacles, until they found the ends of the cords met right at the point of origin.

One of our guys was amazed... "the first time in thirty years, and I finally got a real 'electrical origin' fire"...
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