Furniture, sports, and fireworks stores, now firing.
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 9:57 am
YOU'RE FIRED: An unnamed employee at a furniture manufacturing plant in Grass Valley, Calif., noticed his pants had become saturated with flammable liquid. He then "put a lighter to his pants to see if they would ignite," the company's business manager said. They did -- and so did the building. Thanks to a sprinkler system and firefighters from four local departments, the building was saved. The employee, described as a college student in his 20s, received minor burns. (Grass Valley Union)...Majoring in chemistry, perhaps?
YOU'RE FIRED TOO: It must have been a slow day at Champs Sports, a store in the Oakdale Mall in Johnson City, N.Y. Assistant store manager Joseph R. Freer, 23, allegedly soaked a spider in a storage area with a flammable liquid and lit it. The resulting fire spread into the store. The entire mall was evacuated, and many stores and restaurants suffered smoke damage. Freer was arrested and charged with fourth-degree arson. (Ithaca Journal) ...And first-degree idiocy.
YOU'RE FIRED III: It's not clear where Brian Kitten got the commercial-grade fireworks shell, but he didn't have a proper launch tube for it, say investigators in Lincoln, Neb. So he put it in a five-gallon bucket with a chunk of concrete in the base and lit the fuse, they say. The artillery shell exploded in the bucket -- only the chunk of concrete went flying, hitting Kitten in the face even though he was 20 yards away. Kitten's jaw was broken and several teeth knocked out, leaving him in "fair" condition in a local hospital. Still, says fire investigator Ken Hilger, Kitten was "lucky" since a bit lower, the concrete would have pierced his neck and a bit higher, the concrete would have caused a brain injury. (Lincoln Journal Star) ...Which assumes facts not in evidence.
YOU'RE FIRED TOO: It must have been a slow day at Champs Sports, a store in the Oakdale Mall in Johnson City, N.Y. Assistant store manager Joseph R. Freer, 23, allegedly soaked a spider in a storage area with a flammable liquid and lit it. The resulting fire spread into the store. The entire mall was evacuated, and many stores and restaurants suffered smoke damage. Freer was arrested and charged with fourth-degree arson. (Ithaca Journal) ...And first-degree idiocy.
YOU'RE FIRED III: It's not clear where Brian Kitten got the commercial-grade fireworks shell, but he didn't have a proper launch tube for it, say investigators in Lincoln, Neb. So he put it in a five-gallon bucket with a chunk of concrete in the base and lit the fuse, they say. The artillery shell exploded in the bucket -- only the chunk of concrete went flying, hitting Kitten in the face even though he was 20 yards away. Kitten's jaw was broken and several teeth knocked out, leaving him in "fair" condition in a local hospital. Still, says fire investigator Ken Hilger, Kitten was "lucky" since a bit lower, the concrete would have pierced his neck and a bit higher, the concrete would have caused a brain injury. (Lincoln Journal Star) ...Which assumes facts not in evidence.