Plot
Captain Jim Hadley, fire chief, has his retirement dinner after 40 years in the service. The next day, time hangs very heavy on his hands so that he even chats to a brush salesman (who has a perfect Elmer Fudd voice). Bored, he later visits his old fire station, Fire Company No.7, and talks to the men there, who are called out on a fire.
The Great Eastern Insurance Company is where Frank Rogers (who is interested in Hadley’s daughter Joan) works. There have been a number of fires lately and arson is suspected. This thought is echoed at the Arson Bureau where Lieutenant King, chased up by the mayor, tells Henderson and Roberts he wants results. They know it is an arsonist who uses time bombs and gasoline. The arsonist turns out to be the keeper of an antiques shop, which Joan visits.
Jim is making plans for the future with Burt Stafford, who is due to retire soon. Burt is called out on a fire with the others and is very badly injured there. He dies in the hospital, with Jim standing beside him. The antiques man has called at the Hadley home to bring a salt and pepper set he had to do minor work on, which Joan had bought. She sees the gleam in his eyes when she lights a match.
Jim joins the arson investigation at the bureau, having had some experience when he was in the fire brigade. Spectroscopic analysis of wood found at the scene of the last big fire reveals that part of the burnt time bomb box Jim found was maple wood, so he, Henderson and Roberts scour the city for the maker of the boxes and who they sold them to.
At another big fire, Jim comes across a statue of Vulcan (the Roman god of fire) which the arsonist dropped, it being his inspiration. The arsonist gets it from Jim’s unlocked car where he put it. Mention of this statue later—and the fact that Frank and Joan saw it in the antique shop window—provide a strong lead so they get a search warrant. They do not find any bomb-making equipment, but Jim finds wood shavings which later analysis reveals to be the same wood as that used for the time bomb box.
Jim and Frank go after the arsonist, who has lost his bureau tail. The arsonist goes to the basement of the Hadley house where he plants a time bomb. He goes upstairs and confronts Mrs. Hadley and Joan, and as Jim and Frank realize he may be back at their house—having been seen in the vicinity—the bomb goes off and the basement catches fire. The arsonist tells the women Jim should not have interfered in his work. The men bust in the door and while Frank escorts the women outside, Jim goes after the arsonist, who now babbling about being the god of fire. The arsonist falls down the basement steps into the burning basement and dies. Some time later there is another dinner in honor of Jim, who has got a new job—honorary fire chief of the city.
The film contained footage from a number of large authentic fires, a fire station, and firemen rushing to the fires and fighting the fires. No acknowledgment was given to the fire service. The unnamed city was Los Angeles as it was filmed at Fire Station 27 in Hollywood.
Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercraft, or forests. The crime is typically classified as a felony, with instances involving risk to human life or property carrying a stricter penalty. Arson that results in death can be further prosecuted as manslaughter or murder. A common motive for arson is to commit insurance fraud. In such cases, a person destroys their own property by burning it and then lies about the cause in order to collect against their insurance policy.
Mystery of the Wax Museum is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery-horror film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, and Frank McHugh. It was produced and released by Warner Bros. and filmed in two-color Technicolor; Doctor X and Mystery of the Wax Museum were the last two dramatic fiction films made using this process.
Anti-abortion violence is violence committed against individuals and organizations that perform abortions or provide abortion counseling. Incidents of violence have included destruction of property, including vandalism; crimes against people, including kidnapping, stalking, assault, attempted murder, and murder; and crimes affecting both people and property, as well as arson and terrorism, such as bombings.
John Leonard Orr is an American convicted serial arsonist, mass murderer and former firefighter. A fire captain and arson investigator in Glendale, California, Orr was convicted of serial arson and four counts of murder; he is believed to have set nearly 2,000 fires in a thirty-year arson spree, most of them between 1984 and 1991, making him the most prolific serial arsonist in American history.
The Texas Governor's Mansion is a historic home for the governor of Texas in downtown Austin, Texas. Designed by prominent architect Abner Cook, it was built in 1854 and has been the home of every governor since 1856. Governor Greg Abbott and First Lady Cecilia Phalen Abbott are the current residents.
The Wincrest Nursing Home fire took place on Friday, January 30, 1976, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The fire occurred when an arsonist set a wardrobe closet on fire at the Wincrest Nursing Home building, located at 6326 N. Winthrop Avenue. The alarm sounded at 11:30 a.m. and the fire was put out at 1:30 p.m. Although the building itself sustained minor smoke, fire and water damage, 23 people died from smoke inhalation. A 21-year-old housekeeper was arrested by authorities and was charged with multiple counts of arson.
John Farrell MacDonald was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a four-decade career from 1911 to 1951, and directed forty-four silent films from 1912 to 1917.
Go to Blazes is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Michael Truman and starring Dave King, Robert Morley, Norman Rossington, Daniel Massey, Dennis Price, Maggie Smith, and David Lodge. It also features Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier, both later to star in Dad's Army.
The Edith Green – Wendell Wyatt Federal Building is a high rise structure in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Opened in 1975, the 18 story-tower is owned by the federal government. The international style office building has more than 370,000 square feet (34,000 m2) of space. Designed by the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architecture firm, the building is named after Wendell Wyatt and Edith Green who both served in the United States House of Representatives.
Waterfront Lady is a 1935 American film directed by Joseph Santley and starring Ann Rutherford, in her feature film debut, and Frank Albertson.
The University of Washington firebombing incident was an arson which took place in the early morning hours of May 21, 2001 when a firebomb was set off at Merrill Hall, a part of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture, causing an estimated $1.5 to $4.1 million in damages. By 2012 four of five accused conspirators behind the attack admitted their guilt in plea bargains. A fifth committed suicide in federal detention while awaiting trial.
"Rekindled" is the 21st episode of the ninth season of the American police procedural drama NCIS, and the 207th episode overall. It aired on CBS in the United States on April 17, 2012. The episode is written by Christopher J. Waild and Reed Steiner and directed by Mark Horowitz, and was seen by 18.08 million viewers.
"Playing with Fire" is the 22nd episode of the ninth season of the American police procedural drama NCIS, and the 208th episode overall. It aired on CBS in the United States on May 1, 2012. The episode was written by George Schenck and Frank Cardea and directed by Dennis Smith, and was seen by 17.58 million viewers.
On December 24, 2001, arsonists set fire to the Woodbine Building Supply Company building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, causing an explosion and leading to one of the largest fires in the city's history. The arsonists were conspiring with John Magno, co-owner of the store, who desired to destroy the struggling business to collect a fraudulent insurance claim and clear the site for construction of a condominium development. The fire led to the evacuation of over 50 homes on Christmas morning, and the death of one of the arsonists. After many years of sitting as an idle lot, it was replaced by a condo building, Carmelina Condominiums, completed in 2015.
Batteries Not Included is a 1987 American science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Matthew Robbins, produced by Ronald L. Schwary, and starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. The film tells the story about small extraterrestrial living spaceships that save an apartment block under threat from property development. The story was originally intended to be featured in the television series Amazing Stories, but executive producer Steven Spielberg liked the idea so much that he decided to adapt it into a film. It was the feature film screenwriting debut of Brad Bird.
Stafford Heginbotham was a British businessman who was chairman of Bradford City football club at the time when 56 people died in the Bradford City stadium fire. The fire occurred immediately after the club won league promotion, which mandated a costly upgrading of spectator facilities. A book published in 2015 revealed the extent of Heginbotham's fire insurance claims before the disaster, which had led to him being the subject of local innuendo about arson. In the light of the book's revelations, the former head of the public inquiry into the disaster maintained that there was still no reason to think there had been anything sinister about the fire, although he acknowledged that Heginbotham's serial insurance claims were cause for suspicion.
Frank Morris (1914–1964) was an American businessman who died as a result of arson to his shoe shop in Ferriday, Louisiana, a city with a history of racial violence. There have been allegations of witness intimidation, evidence tampering, and involvement by local law enforcement. No charges have been brought despite three FBI investigations.
Between 1982 and 1983, a group of eight police officers, firefighters and regular civilians set between 163 and 260 fires in the city of Boston, Massachusetts and nine surrounding towns and cities to protest Proposition 2½, hoping to revert the budget cuts that led to hundreds of police officers and firefighters being laid off. Proposition 2½ also caused many public services such as schools, libraries and centers to suffer.
