[angcat]

The fire appears to have been caused by hot fireplace ashes and embers, which had been discarded," said Barry Callahan, the chief fire marshal in Stamford, Connecticut.

He said the fire that engulfed the large waterfront Victorian home was accidental, according to preliminary findings, but an investigating is ongoing.

[angcat]

I screwed this post up. I did not see anything on FR about this.

[montag813]

Her contractor boyfriend made a boneheaded decision, and now 5 people are dead

[silverleaf]

Two people made tragic mistakes, now the woman has to try and live with this the rest of her life

This is such an awful story

Almost identical story of loss in Australia, except the father survived,so far
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078785/Matt-Golinski-Celebrity-chef-fighting-life-house-killed-entire-family.html

[ExCTCitizen]

embers will do that... all...make sure it is out...

[Third Person]

The contractor/ family friend/ boyfriend is going to jail for a long time. He will not be “getting through this”.

Gross negligence with the ashes, no CO, no fire detectors, knowledge of the home’s balloon construction, five people dead yet he’s still alive... see ya.

[Straight Vermonter]

The University of Vermont basketball coach and his family was woken up yesterday by a construction worker who was yelling that their house was on fire. Apparently they had cleaned out their fireplace and put the ashes in a paper bag and left it on the back porch. Fortunately no one was injured and the house was not too extensively damaged but seriously how stupid can people be?

http://www.wcax.com/story/16398832/construction-worker-saves-burlington-family-from-fire

[trisham]

This story is odd. Why would someone discard ashes after 3 AM? Anyone who has ever had a fireplace wouldn’t do that. They would wait until the next morning at least, and then place the ashes in a metal ash bucket that has a tight metal lid, which is usually kept on the hearth.

[Kenny Bunk]

http://gothamist.com/2011/12/31/cops_join_investigation_into_fatal.php

Better coverage in this story. The Stamford municiapl ass is covered because they had not issued the CO for the property. Legally, it appears that no one should have been living there yet.

Nowadays, not too many people know about fireplaces.