Lime Street Fire Revisited

On October 15, 1990, a fire occurred at 527 Lime St. in Jacksonville, FL that would change fire investigation history forever. A March 6, 2020 podcast in the series “this is criminal” describes the history of the Lime Street fire. The 30-minute podcast may be accessed here:

[thisiscriminal.com]

The investigation was videotaped, and in 1992, I edited the videotape down to a one-hour presentation, which I used at several arson investigation conferences, including the 1992 International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI) International Training Conference (ITC). It was not on the official program, but I showed it to several people at the ITC, and had several interesting discussions. The subject of how floors in fires that have reached full room involvement can look like we imagined floors with accelerant on them would look after the fire became a major topic of discussion shortly thereafter. The videotape may be accessed here.

[www.firescientist.com]
(Scroll down to “Lime Street Fire Investigation”)

Shortly after the fire, the Fire and Arson Investigator, the official publication of the, IAAI, published a three-part article written by myself and my two co-conspirators in the investigation of the fire. That three-part article may be accessed here:

[drive.google.com]
(Scroll down to “1992, The Lime Street Fire”)

Although it has been almost 30 years since the fire, it still influences my thinking, my practice, and that of other fire investigators as well.

John J. Lentini, CFI
Scientific Fire Analysis
Islamorada, FL
www.firescientist.com
scientific.fire@yahoo.com