Thursday Afternoon Update From Fire Chief Brian Rooney:
Statement from Bridgeport Fire Chief Brian Rooney re: Warehouse fire investigation:
The Bridgeport Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause and origin of the fire at the former Casco Products building in the City’s West End. No determination about the cause and origin of the fire has been made, and the investigation is likely to take several weeks. Any reports about how the fire was ignited are merely speculative at this time. Anyone with any information regarding the warehouse fire is asked to call the Fire Marshal’s office at 203.576.7685.
“I set that shit on fire.” At the 4:30 mark of this YouTube video a young male appears to say that. The fire broke out last Thursday night wiping out a vacant building in the West End that most recently housed Nest Arts. It also tested the resilience of city firefighters under difficult conditions. Fire officials are investigating the cause.
Could a cigarette cause this? A shout out to Andy Fardy, retired city arson investigator.
Lennie, I don’t believe for a minute a cigarette tossed from street level through a window 10 feet above the sidewalk could have happened. Let’s for arguement’s sake say the lit cigarette did make it through an open window; it still would not have caused this fire. It needs to be covered so it will generate enough heat to start a fire. Many causes of fires throughout the country are blamed on cigarettes when in fact they did not cause the fire.
I have conducted many tests with cigarettes and found it very difficult to get a fire started.
I had access to a video showing 100 lit cigarettes were placed on a mattress to see if they would start a fire, these 100 cigarettes could not start this mattress on fire. If you covered a cigarette with bedding, that’s a different story.
With this video they should pull off the individual photos and start trying to locate these kids and bring them in for questioning. I would bet these kids have been able to enter this building in the past and run around inside. This could be a long investigation but done right it could produce results.
*** Could all eight Bpt State Legislators work on passing a State ordinance to get funds to knock down all urban city abandoned industrial sites that are condemned and fire hazards? Could save lives, motivate development, eliminate urban eyesores and save money in the long run, no? ***
The thing about this fire is that no one seems to be doing much of an investigation. The police department has not been notified this was an arson fire so they are not investigating. There is no reason the cause of this fire has not been released.
I will remind the investigators they DO NOT need positive accelerant samples to call a fire incendiary.
If they use the process of elimination they can reach that conclusion. The process of elimination simply stated is as follows:
1. Building was vacant at the time of the fire.
2. Electrical and mechanical entities were off at the time of the fire.
3. Vagrants were not living in the building.
4. There were no chemicals in the building that could lead to spontaneous combustion.
Eliminating all accidental causes allows an investigator to call a fire incendiary.