Gerhard Albert Becker has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The charge against him is the result of a fire in January of last year that killed Glenn Allen, a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department. Allen was killed, and several other firefighters injured, in a ceiling collapse while they were fighting a fire in what the LAT describes as a “Hollywood Hills mansion”.
Okay. So why is this odd? Well, Becker isn’t the homeowner. Becker isn’t an arsonist. He didn’t start the fire. But it had not always been burning since the world’s been turning: the home had recently been rebuilt.
No, Becker is the architect who designed the home. I’ve never heard of a case where an architect has been charged as a result of a fire death. But when you read the article…
Wow. That’s…interesting. In the “tragedy waiting to happen” sort of way. More:
I’m not familiar with LA building codes. Is plastic pipe considered acceptable for sprinkler systems?
(The comments on this story are interesting as well. Apparently, the home was given a certificate of occupancy. Doesn’t that imply an inspection by the building department? I can see that they may not have gone into the attic to look at the sprinkler system: you’d expect that, but maybe the inspector was pressed for time? Or lazy? Or that’s not a standard part of inspections? But wouldn’t an 18-foot indoor “fire trough” have made them say something?)
Edited to add: Longer article from the LAT. If the accusations in this article are true (and please keep in mind that this is just the prosecution’s case), they’re damming.
Building inspectors said Becker had told them there were no plans to build fireplaces in the home, and none were spotted during a final inspection. After the fire, investigators discovered that he had installed four outdoor fireplaces inside the home, a violation of city building codes.
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One of the fireplaces, prosecutors allege, actually vented into the room where it was located. The fireplaces also included combustible materials, like drywall, and lacked required firebreaks to keep flames from spreading out.