According to my trusted sources there was another small rural house pretty close to the previous one. And my trusted sources are usually not wrong. I just had to cross a bushy field to get to the next house.
Unfortunately somebody else had gotten there before me. And they hadn’t been very kind guests.
Of course I can’t be 100 % certain that it had been arson. But the house had been empty and intact when I received my tip, and these usually don’t catch fire themselves, when there’s no electricity.
The building had gone into a pretty bad shape and although I could have walked in, I’m not that suicidal.
A view inside from one of the windows. Everything has burned apart from the fireplace. That probably wasn’t the source of fire then.
Somebody has forgotten their jacket.
Although at the back of the house, this might actually have been the main entrance.
I could make many jokes about this, but I won’t. Somebody brave has been inside after the fire.
Usually my window shots are from the inside to the outside. This one is a bit different.
Another charred entrance.
And behind it is the sauna. The stove is also strangely intact, so that’s not a probable source of fire either. I am starting to suspect something.
One final look from a window to the back of the building. It seems that there’s been a large door in the back, which suggests, that this section of the building has been some sort of a storage. Or even housed animals, which is not too uncommon either.
As a woman who has spent decades in the fire department, I’ve witnessed similar scenes too many times. The patterns and the spread of the fire, as evident in your pictures, strongly suggest to me that this could almost certainly be a case of arson. I am especially suspect of the fact that there were no utilities connected at the time of the fire, and the ignition source appears to be separate from the electrical meter and the fireplace, suggesting than an accelerant (such as a petrol product) may have been used. It’s important, though, to remember that photographs can only tell us so much.
Thank you for your opinion, which is far more expert than mine! My strongest evidence suggesting arson is, that the building has been abandoned for a long time and the electricity has been cut off. Which sort of rules out all natural causes.
For some reason this isn’t always the case. Last summer I visited two locations, which were abandoned, badly vandalized and still had electricity. The other one, a large hospital, even had lights on.
In my experience, when we encounter an accidental fire, there’s typically a discernible cause and point of origin, something concrete to point to. However, the situation changes when fire damage appears to have multiple points of origin, like in separate rooms, or distinct locations that are far from typical ignition sources. This kind of spread pattern strongly suggests that it wasn’t just an accident.
Given the extreme intensity of the fire at the corner where both exterior walls were severely damaged, the burn patterns hint at something more. It looks like a petroleum-based accelerant might have been used outside, which would explain the rapid spread and intensity of the fire in that area.
As far as I am concerned, this is an interesting case, and I thank you for sharing. 🙂