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Investigators say smoker started fire that killed BU student, but probe into death continues

The Boston Fire Department has released its findings on the fire that killed BU student Binland Lee on Sunday:

The fire was started by the careless disposal of smoking material.

Specifically, it started in the area of an interior staircase that was permanently blocked off on the first floor but was an open space to those using the stairs to the second floor from the rear of the house. ...

This determination was based on physical evidence, burn patterns, interviews and other factors.

Investigators are continuing their probe into the fire, not only the immediate cause, but factors that could have contributed to it. Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, says:

The death investigation already under way will go beyond cause and origin of the fire to determine any facts and circumstances that might be relevant to criminal charges.

David Bradley, an assistant district attorney who once prosecuted arson cases, is heading the DA's investigation. Boston Police detectives are also working the case.

The city this week cited the owner of the allegedly two-family house for stuffing too many people in it.

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Comments

So yet again:

How many people have to lose their belongings, homes, and lives before we ban smoking on shared properties? Or at the very least, hold smokers criminally and financially responsible?

Smoking needs to be illegal in any residential building except for single-family homes that have the full legal setback.

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While I agree with you in theory (I hate smoking as a habit/addiction, and have yet to share space with a respectful smoker), when you start talking legality, I can bet you that the tobacco lobby, even this far north, will have some big fat shiny words to say about that.

side note: what's with the influx of 'anon' posters lately?

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but "RedHeadGrrlie" was taken :(

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Was Ginger taken?

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our space heaters, stoves, candles, tapestries, giant piles of oily rags, crock pots, rice cookers, and matches too?

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You can have my giant pile of oily rags perched precariously over my unvented space heater when you pry it from my COLD HEAD HANDS, SatansFist. This is 'MURICA.

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The only housemate I ever had start a fire was a mid 20's waitress who left a candle burning on her little meditation alter (cloth piece over apple crate) located under the window with a vinyl blind lowered. She closed the door and left the house for the day with the candle still going. No candle holder. The candle burned down, igniting the wax soaked cloth. A neighbor behind saw the flames in the window before anyone in the house could smell fumes with the door closed (no smoke alarm in the room). Fortunately the fire department was just a block away. She lost her stuff to smoke damage and slept on the living room couch for 3 months waiting for the insurance settlement and room renovations, even though the burning damage wasn't that bad. Much Kilz to cover the soot, replace a window, part of wood floor, part of ceiling checked by FD, and refinish flooring in room and path FD took. Arlington FD did super job with minimal water damage. Lesson: smoke detectors in every bedroom. Beware of airy-fairy, dingbat chicks.

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Cool story, bro.

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Because I registered but can never log in. I always get "Sorry - or thanks!
If you just posted a restroom listing, it's now in the database and our .... so don't let that stop you!"

I also get this when I use the link to reset my password, so I've given up and just post anon.

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So that's ALL smoking? You know, not just cigs?

The article mentioned smoking materials so I guess they could be talking about cigarettes but I wonder if other smoking material type things are ever cause for fire.

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For several reasons, cigarettes are the most likely cause here. If you hang around with smokers, you likely know that they don't puff puff pass to keep the cigs lit.

The failure of cigarettes to self-extinguish is an old one, and first got the attention of MA lawmakers in the 1920s ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_safe_cigarette

While cigarettes used to contain additives to keep them burning, the advent of "fire safe" cigarettes has changed that. However, cigars still go out more easily than cigarettes, but they are also less common. Cigarettes are usually not hand made, and are thus more tightly packed than either joints or cigars.

So, yes, it could have been smoking materials other than a cigarette, but odds are on the cigs here.

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That would be just about as enforceable as, well, any prohibition.

The real problem with this house was that it had been illegally modified to accomodate far too many people with far too little chance of escape. The actual cause of the fire doesn't change that. A kitchen or electrical fire would have had the same deadly consequences given the illegal modifications.

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The cause of death was fire/ smoke inhalation due to someone's carelessness. That person caused the death of a woman with a bright future ahead of her. And now the smoker will have to live with this the rest of his/her life. Quite sad.

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living somewhere with enough exits and not in crammed space illegally is the real issue. I wonder how much this "citation" costs.

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The fire could also be prevented if the house was equipped with automatic fire sprinklers. I believe that the city should have a program in place to help multi-family property owners protect their houses and tenants.

See my initiative:
http://sprinklersforboston.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/SprinklersForBoston

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My smoke detector goes off, on average, five times a week. Oven set above 400? Smoke alarms are going off. Heating oil in a pan without all the windows open? Smoke detectors are going off. Boiling water too enthusiastically? You get the idea.

So while I do like the safety bit, I think it would take exactly one case of the sprinkler system triggering on a false positive (and causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage to the house and to personal belongings) before a given renter would have a new #1 criterion in apartment-hunting: avoid apartments with automated sprinkler systems.

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...and require considerable heat for them to go off.

Ask any firefighter and they'll tell you that sprinklers work; they almost completely eliminate deaths and structural failures. You lose the room and have water damage, but nobody dies.

The only reason they're not in place is because they're expensive and building owners have lobbied heavily against it. Plenty of cities require them, just not ones where megalandlords have swing.

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I do not think it should be required, though. Unless they let me install it myself and not hire overpriced union hacks. However, there are plenty of ways that the city can make it easier for property owners to install sprinklers. Currently it's a bunch of red tape and pointless regulations.

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Sprinkler fitters are specialized plumbers. The work is 100% union and incredibly expensive for what it is. Good luck getting scumbag landlords that can't be bothered change locks once every decade to shell out for a sprinkler system.

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We had the same problem. We fixed it by buying a new smoke detector (apparently, sometimes the sensors can get dirty which triggers the false alarms) and we moved it out of the direct path of the kitchen. It's helped A LOT.

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When I had crappy battery operated smoke detectors in my house they went off practically every time my dog farted. Since i switched over to hard-wired smokes, with carbon monoxide detector I get no more false alarms.

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Fires also start because we use electricity or grilles. Should those things be banned too?

You can not blame careless behavior on the bizillions of cigarettes that get put out non-carelessly.

Silly windmill tilting.

And by the way, in an ideal world, smoking would be mandatory for all people with no age or health exemptions or you get sent to a camp in some malaria swamp where forced to labor making cigarettes.

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And yes, actually, grills are banned in Boston, at least from being anywhere except on the ground.

And yes, actually, we heavily regulate building electricals, which is why you rarely hear about fires from faulty electrical wiring these days.

The fact that bazillions of cigarettes get put out "non-carelessly" is pointless: the top cause of fire deaths in the US: cigarettes.

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So how's that grill ban working out?

Oh right.

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Depends on the local enforcement. When I lived in Brookline, my roommates and I hauled the grill up to the fire escape on the third floor one day, and lit some charcoal. Brookline FD responded with a full ladder before the coals were hot enough to grill on, after the neighbors called to complain. The fine was pretty substantial. Never again.

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That's something, then.

Grills on porches and decks in Boston are as common as space savers

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Would all be incarcerated because of all fires that are deemed started by electrical causes.
You want to live with more government restrictions?
Move to Cuba.

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Want to live free of government restrictions?

Move to Somalia.

Gee, this is a fun, pointless way to waste time!

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