Investigators used two cameras to take photos. This page shows only photos from the fire department’s camera for their investigation of the Meadows Carpet Fire.
Photos on this page are in chronological order, with times listed, which came from the “Date taken” metadata.
The numbers (marked with #) represent the numbered file names that the camera generated.
Photos of Sun, May 20, 2018
The fire alarm activated on Saturday night at 11:47pm (using the building’s surveillance system clock). Photos of that night were taken a few hours later.
Hallway Damage
Extinguishing powder is on the floor of the hallway. In the hallway, Ron used the extinguisher (which is shown below, photos #0088 & #0090) to extinguish the already nearly-dead fire.
Click photos to enlarge.
2018/05/20 @ 02:30 #00882018/05/20 @ 02:30 #00892018/05/20 @ 02:31 #00902018/05/20 @ 02:33 #00912018/05/20 @ 02:33 #00922018/05/20 @ 02:34 #0093The damage was limited to where the flammable liquid (likely alcohol) was leaked/dribbled. The hallway’s window was not blown out or damaged. Ceiling tiles were not disturbed. A gasoline fire would have caused an explosion.
Stairwell Damage
Notice the white extinguishing powder on the door in photo #0094 (below) but that the extinguisher was not used inside the stairwell. The fire inside the stairwell fully extinguished itself, which only took a few minutes. No one witnessed the fire through the stairwell’s window. The stairwell window was not damaged or blown out. A gasoline fire would have caused an explosion.
Unexpected shapes for an “arson” at the apparent end of the liquid trail. Note there are two shapes—a square and a circle—indicating that there was more than one container but that there was only one trail of liquid, and that an arsonist would not need two containers to hold a flammable liquid. See page The Third Step for full explanation.
2018/05/20 @ 02:39 #01012018/05/20 @ 02:39 #01022018/05/20 @ 02:39 #0103The lowest point of fire damage, the third step from the bottom of the stairs.
Ron’s Jug of Gasoline
A red herring—the jug of gasoline had nothing to do with the fire! It wasn’t a gasoline fire! No one smelled gasoline in the building, and it didn’t burn like gasoline.
2018/05/20 @ 02:52 #01172018/05/20 @ 02:52 #01182018/05/20 @ 02:53 #0119Sample #1 – near apartment door in hallway2018/05/20 @ 02:57 #01202018/05/20 @ 02:59 #0121Sample #2 – at stairwell entrance2018/05/20 @ 03:03 #01222018/05/20 @ 03:05 #01232018/05/20 @ 03:05 #0124Sample #3 – the third step from the bottom of the stairs2018/05/20 @ 03:10 #01252018/05/20 @ 03:11 #0126Sample #4 – control sample
Collection of Ron’s Clothing
Despite all absence of gasoline odor inside the building (and any report of such), or of fire behavior indicative of gasoline, Ron’s clothing of that night was collected by investigators, since his clothing smelled of gasoline.
On this new day, the camera’s file numbering system was reset to start at #0001.
2018/05/21 @ 10:02 #00012018/05/21 @ 10:02 #00022018/05/21 @ 10:02 #0003It’s Monday morning, 10:02am on May 21, when these photos of the evidence locker’s door were taken, just prior to breaking the tape seal. It’s interesting that the evidence locker was sealed on May 21 (in other words, within the last couple of hours). Ron was booked about 24 hours earlier. The collecting of the evidence was completed before Ron was booked. If the evidence wasn’t in the evidence locker for the last 24+ hours, where was it?2018/05/21 @ 10:10 #0004Above is the only known “photo” of Ron’s cigarette lighter. (Can you see it? It’s hidden inside that little paper envelope between two of the cans.) Investigators claim that the lighter was in Ron’s pocket on the night of the fire, but they found it in his apartment while he was detained in the cold outside. Earlier in his apartment, an officer closely watched and recorded Ron emptying his pockets while he changed his pants to have them collected as evidence. Investigators and officers did not find a lighter in his pocket nor in the contents that he removed from his pockets. It was only near the end of the night, after Ron had been detained outside for quite some time, that investigators ever mentioned the cigarette lighter.2018/05/21 @ 10:11 #00052018/05/21 @ 10:11 #00062018/05/21 @ 10:20 #00072018/05/21 @ 10:21 #00082018/05/21 @ 10:33 #00092018/05/21 @ 10:33 #00102018/05/21 @ 10:33 #00112018/05/21 @ 10:33 #00122018/05/21 @ 10:33 #00132018/05/21 @ 10:33 #00142018/05/21 @ 10:33 #00152018/05/21 @ 10:33 #00162018/05/21 @ 10:33 #00172018/05/21 @ 10:34 #00182018/05/21 @ 10:35 #00192018/05/21 @ 10:35 #00202018/05/21 @ 10:35 #00212018/05/21 @ 10:35 #00222018/05/21 @ 10:36 #00232018/05/21 @ 10:36 #00242018/05/21 @ 10:36 #00252018/05/21 @ 10:36 #00262018/05/21 @ 10:36 #00272018/05/21 @ 10:36 #00282018/05/21 @ 10:37 #00292018/05/21 @ 10:37 #00302018/05/21 @ 10:37 #00312018/05/21 @ 10:37 #0032
That’s all of the fire department’s evidence photos.
