ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- One homeowner in southeast Rochester is
dealing with quite a mess due to his neighbor's frozen pipes.

The Rochester Fire Department says the pipes between the water main
and a home in the 2100 block of 14th Street Southeast were frozen, so
the homeowner called a service to thaw them out.

During the thawing process, the home next door caught fire just after
5 p.m. Saturday.

The pipe was also connected to the neighbor's home, whose pipes were
not frozen.

My guess. They used a welder or something to pass current through the pipe
to thaw it. Maybe disconnected the ground connection from the pipe, and
then passed current though it to ground to warm the pipe. Ground
connection from pipe to ground rods at neighbors house overheated and
started fire.



That movie "Frozen River" had a teenager thaw out his mobile home pipes with
a propane torch and start a fire. It looked like the props department used
some gray spray paint to simulate fire damage.