The local news made mention that there was a poor (inproper) splice on
the circuit (in the attic) and theory is that shorting the circuit,
while it tripped the breaker, was likely the cause of the fire.

This was early on in the investigation, and I only heard it mentioned
once. I live about 50 miles from the home and we had a lot of TV
coverage of this fire - a real tragedy. I was an electrician for 30+
years and never felt this method of finding which breaker controlled a
circuit was wise, but then I still believe fuses are more reliable than
circuit breakers, so what do I know ;-)