STATE COLLEGE -- An electrical problem in the attic sparked the blaze that killed 21-year-old Christopher Raspanti on Sunday, state fire marshals said.
Investigators from several agencies, including Centre Region Code Administration, State College police, and fire investigators with several agencies, spent the past few days probing the fire that destroyed the wood-frame house at 500 E. Beaver Ave.
Raspanti, a Penn State student, was one of about a dozen people in the home when the blaze broke out. A neighbor, two sanitation workers and a passing taxi driver ran into the burning home about 6:40 a.m. and woke the sleeping people, authorities said. Police said Thursday that they were told about the neighbor's involvement only recently and lauded him and the others for their life-saving efforts.
Fire marshals think the fire was caused by the electrical wiring because that is the only ignition source in an inaccessible void where the fire began above the third floor. Raspanti's body was found on the third floor.
Centre Region fire and housing inspector Tim Knisely said no smoke detector was found on the third floor, but he said it may have been destroyed in the fire.
Smoke detectors were found on the basement, first and second levels of the home, but three were disabled and a fourth did not appear to be working.
The electrical wiring on the third floor of the home, which is about 80 years old, was the original "knob and tube" wiring from when the house was constructed, fire marshals said, but they said it met code standards.
"Knob and tube" wiring -- common in homes built before the 1950s -- gets its name from the insulators used to keep the wires separate from other objects, according to information posted on a Web site maintained by Grassroots, a home inspection company.
Because the insulation material breaks down over time, many insurance companies require an inspection of the coating of the wiring before insuring the home, according to a Web site maintained by Insure.com.
Knisely said code enforcement officers can order a rental property owner to update wiring in all or part of a building but do so very rarely.
If there are complaints about a property's electrical wiring, code enforcement officers will investigate, Knisely said. Complaints about wiring usually focus on fuses or breakers tripping frequently, flickering lights and similar problems.
No code violations were found during the last inspection of the property, owned by Boalsburg resident Rodney Hendricks, that was performed in 2001, Knisely said. At this point, only the lack of working smoke detectors in the home would be considered a violation.
But because code inspectors can't prove whether the tenants were responsible for disabling the smoke detectors or if the detectors didn't work when the tenants moved in, Knisely said, "we're not going to pursue that at this point."
Police are awaiting toxicology results on Raspanti, according to Sgt. John Gardner with the State College Police Department. He said earlier this week that it did not seem likely that any criminal charges would be filed in connection with the fire.
Distributed by the Associated Press
