Heatwave & Crime
shooterali
1,591 Posts
Police in several cities reported a rise in thefts of air conditioners, some of which were being snatched directly from windows. The air conditioner at Joliff United Methodist Church in Chesapeake, Va., was stolen Wednesday night, police said. The church canceled activities in the building until a replacement could be installed. ???We have no air in this room,??? the Rev. Waverly Smith told NBC affiliate WAVY. ???We???ve got one, two, three, four and five fans blowing, and it???s unbearable.???Smith held out hope that the air conditioner was being put to good use. "Maybe they were taking it to Grandma who doesn???t have any air conditioning and getting her to be safe through the heat,??? he said.Bolt your Air Conditioners down tonite.!! 
Comments
http://www.wreg.com/global/story.asp?s=6938819
CAPE CORAL: Police hope to turn up the thermostat on thieves who they say stole eight air conditioning units in the northwest Cape.
Homeowners on the street worry because no one is in jail for the crime. Aside from the inconvenience and the fear of living without any air, police say the damages are costly and can range anywhere from $50 to $10,000.
The residents say summer in Southwest Florida is not exactly the best time or place to go without air conditioning.
"Very uncomfortable," said Cape resident Verrit Newman.
But AC units are now a hot commodity for thieves.
"They target quiet areas where people aren't home and that really concerns me," said Cape homeowner Agnes Upeslacis.
"If people are going to come up to your house next door and try to touch something, what's going to stop them from coming to my or my neighbor's house?" said Newman.
Air conditioning sales representatives say thieves will steal an air conditioning unit, or its parts, just to make a quick buck.
"To see stuff like this, it's kind of disheartening," said air conditioner salesman John McSweeney.
McSweeney says thieves make about $25 for copper parts, but the damage they cause can cost homeowners thousands.
"It's just a shame that somebody spends their good hard money on trying to make their house nice and for $25, somebody is willing to do that type of damage," said McSweeney.
He added that if thieves want to steal parts of your AC, there is not much you can do to stop them.
"If you have neighbors you need to team up. And if anybody sees anything suspicious, don't confront them, just call the cops," said McSweeney.
It's still not clear if all of these incidents are connected, but police say they found evidence that the cables and Freon tubes had been cut in a similar fashion as the units at the other home
ARLINGTON, Texas ??? The school district will spend $200,000 replacing wood chips with pea gravel at 35 playgrounds in response to a fire blamed on spontaneous combustion of the wood fiber, the superintendent said.
Surveillance video showed that nobody was around to start the fire at an elementary school playground last week, officials said. The fire melted the plastic and metal equipment, causing $35,000 in damage.
"It was a very unusual occurrence," Superintendent Mac Bernd said Monday.
Deputy Fire Marshal Keith Ebel said the conditions that caused the chips to catch fire were "like a perfect storm."
Heavy rains earlier this summer saturated the wooden material, which began to decompose in the recent summer heat wave. High temperatures Thursday afternoon then ignited the dry chips on the surface.
"Everything had to be just right for this to occur," Ebel said.
Officials said the fire was like the combustion that can occur with organic material in a compost pile if it is not turned regularly.
The district rakes the playground wood chips every 30 days, but fire officials said heat can build up more quickly than that.
Such combustion would occur only if poor quality material was used, said Mark Carlston, president and CEO of Forest Wood Fiber Products of Lake Elsinore, Calif. The company does not supply wood chips for Arlington schools.
Carlston said problems could occur if the wood fiber contained lumber such as plywood with flammable resins or glues, or if contained ground up tree trimmings or similar vegetation.
"If the material is made correctly, I would say (spontaneous combustion) would be almost impossible," he said.
Bernd said if people had been at the playground they would have likely had to time to escape the fire. The wood fiber discolored and smoked before flames formed.
Ebel said there have been other unexplained fires at playgrounds that might be attributable to spontaneous combustion, but investigators couldn't rule out human intervention.
from: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5051771.html
Guard your goods people, there are "touchers" on the loose.
I've spent a few summers in Florida with no A/C as a poor college student. Stick to shorts, sandals, and tank tops.