Cell phone ruled out as cause of fire that injured man

18.01.2007
A Vallejo, Calif. fire investigator reversed an earlier finding and said Thursday that a cell phone was not the cause of a fire that critically burned a man and damaged the man's apartment.

The investigator, William Tweedy, had said in a written report issued Saturday that a cell phone malfunctioned, igniting the fire, but Thursday Tweedy said in an interview that the phone was not to blame, based on a test conducted by a Nokia Corp. phone expert.

Meanwhile, the man, Luis Picaso, 59, remained in critical condition at the University of Cailornia at Davis Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. Tweedy said the man had undergone surgery yesterday and was recovering. Fire officials have not been able to interview him since the surgery.

Tweedy said he called Nokia for assistance in the investigation and did not feel compelled by any source to revise his findings. "I called Nokia and their expert performed the test in front of me," he said. The test was conducted yesterday.

"The phone still works, so it's ruled out as the ignition source," Tweedy said. The phone, a Nokia 2125i, was fairly new and was burned, but apparently the fire started somewhere else, Tweedy said.

Tweedy also ruled out "everything" in the second-story apartment as a source of the flames, including the stove, electrical outlets and ignitable liquids. "Whatever caused the fire, the evidence of that thing burned up in the fire," Tweedy said, referring to a cigarette or match as an example of evidence that might have burned up.