Burglar gets stuck in chimney, then the owner lights a fire.

[ritch]

Dude got stuck in the chimney overnight, chances are he was asleep or not generally aware of what was going on below him. If he was calling for help, sure then there's intent, but there might not have been.

As far as lighting a fireplace goes, normally when lighting a fireplace you don't have the intention of putting it out immediately. Hence when the fire started it may be difficult to immediately put it out in absence of lets say water or the like. Smoke production and asphixiation can occur quite rapidly in absence of proper ventilation, combined with panic.


Either way, since when are chimneys preferred routes as opposed to bashing in windows?

LOL???

Sure, nice cozy place to take a nap. No way did he fall asleep in a chimney, c'mon, lol... Adrenaline would have kept him awake.

[240 is Back]

such a perfect storm of events would have to take place, in order to be 'accidentally' burned alive.

he climbs down, and isn't heard.
he becomes stuck, doesn't yell for help.
the owner happens to decide right then to start a fire.
the burglar doesn't yell when the wood is prepared.
the owner is unable to stop a small fire he's just starting, and has to run for an extinguisher which doesn't arrive in time.

OR.... burglar tries chimney.  Owner starts fire.  Owner realizes it may be murder (or house fills with smoke), puts it out after man is dead.   

I'm fine with him shooting, stabbing, or burning an intruder.  This is america, you don't go into houses without knocking, it's a bad ending.   BUT so much would have to occur for this to be an accident, I'm not buying it.

[The Abdominal Snoman]

i'm not buying "I just happened to be lighting a fire right then... and I heard him yell, and tried to put it out, and then he died, sadly.

More like "I heard this dude cry for help in the chimney and I was scared and angry so I lit a fire, took a crap from stress, then put it out all quick and called 911.

I bet there is cell phone call of the dude crying for help as the homeowner tossed in wood and fumbled with a lighter for 45 seconds...

I would text a friend saying "I think I hear some squirrels in my chimney, I'm gonna try to smoke them out"...Would have made the story way cooler.

[Lustral]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/suspected-burglar-died-after-getting-stuck-california-chimney-n470751

 Serves him medium rare.

Bet California introduce emissions laws so coal fires do not produce toxins that woud kill persons trapped in chimneys.

[thebrink]

Bahaha this is legend lol

[avxo]

Bet California introduce emissions laws so coal fires do not produce toxins that woud kill persons trapped in chimneys.

I'm sure something is already on the books.

[Rudee]

Reminded me of this classic

[phreak]

Down one trusty employee. Someone's not getting pepernoten this year.

[Sokolsky]

LOL???

Sure, nice cozy place to take a nap. No way did he fall asleep in a chimney, c'mon, lol... Adrenaline would have kept him awake.

If you're stuck in a place overnight, falling asleep is not unlikely. Hell, some kids got lost in some caves in my area and we're stuck for 14hours and they managed to catch some sleep. Stress burns you up quickly and adrenaline fleeds after a while.


As far as not hearing the guy starting a fire/placing woods; considering the guy chose to enter a house via chimney, it's not beyond the realms of reasoning that he was scared of getting caught, hence didn't make a noise. Or otherwise starting a fire not requiring much noise to be made to begin with. Atleast in my case when starting a fire with logs, I don't bother with slowly igniting it, instead dousing the logs with lighterfluid or otherwise. Alternatively at my parents' place we have a fireplace that works on gas, takes 0 time to start and no noise at all apart from the ignition clicking maybe once or twice.

Just providing an alternative view here, doesn't change the outcome though

[Sokolsky]

Down one trusty employee. Someone's not getting pepernoten this year.

[Purge_WTF]

♪ ♫ Numbnuts roasting on an open fire.... ♪♬