On Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:17:43 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Did you all here the story about the house in CT
where 3 children and two grandparents died during
Xmas? It was a large $2mil house owned by an
advertising exec and it was undergoing renovation.

Source of the fire is believed to be hot ashes from
a fireplace that were placed in a bag and taken to
either the mud room or the adjacent outsite trash
storage area. That was done before they went to
bed around 3AM. Fire started on the back side of the
house.

Investigators believe the central wired smoke alarm
system was not working. They aren't sure if there
were any battery powered ones.

Left me wondering. Why would anyone take ashes
out of a fireplace in the middle of the night when the
fire has just gone out? I've always just left them
there until at least a day or two later. Seems easy
and natural to do it that way, no?

While I'm still shaking my head at the apparent [if the news reports
are correct] ignorance of anyone who would put ashes in a bag-- and
then put the bag in a trash can-- I can see cleaning the fireplace out
when the evening is done, and readying a fire to be enjoyed Christmas
morning.

The fire may have 'gone out' in the evening and they had been wrapping
and setting up for Christmas morning into the wee small hours.

Jim