$340,000 Paid in Suit That Blamed Wiring for Fatal Fire

Relatives of a Yorba Linda man who died in a house fire in 1983 have received $340,000 as partial settlement of a lawsuit that claims defective aluminum wiring caused the blaze.

The case is one of an unknown number nationwide that questions the safety of the entire industry between 1965 and 1974, when aluminum wiring was introduced as a low-cost alternative for copper. In Orange County, where building codes have banned aluminum wiring for more than a decade, fire officials say residents of some older homes still face potential hazards.

Thirty-eight defendants, including two dozen wire fabricators and electrical outlet makers, were named in the $3-million suit filed by Judith Christie in Orange County Superior Court.

Christie’s son, Carson Snipes, 22, died in the quick-spreading fire, which destroyed their rented, seven-bedroom home at 19862 Villager Circle on Dec. 15, 1983. Six other family members, two of whom were burned in the fire, are also plaintiffs.

Orange County Fire Department investigators concluded that the fire, which caused $214,000 in property damage, was caused by aluminum wiring, according to documents in the court file.

Of the lawsuits nationwide challenging the safety of aluminum wiring, the best known involved a 1977 fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Newport, Ky., in which 165 people died and 81 were injured.

Eighteen months ago, the aluminum industry contributed a total of $19 million to settle that lawsuit after a jury decided that faulty connections and wiring were the cause, according to Stanley M. Chesley, a Cincinnati attorney who worked on the case. The settlement was reached before jurors were asked to fix damages.

In older homes, the wiring and connections amount to “a time bomb,” Chesley said, but he noted that rewiring is expensive. He cautioned residents with aluminum wiring to have electricians check their homes yearly for problems.

Building and fire officials don’t know how many homes in Orange County have aluminum wiring, which has been prohibited in new residential construction at least since 1977, according to James Richards, a building inspector.

County fire officials have issued a number of alerts about wiring hazards, most recently in 1985. According to one fire report, 88 of 99 house fires in the county attributed to faulty wiring between 1975 and 1982 involved aluminum wiring and connectors.

Fire officials recommend rewiring with copper, replacement of outlets with devices designed specifically for aluminum wiring, or “pigtailing.” Also recommended is connecting a short length of copper wire to the outlet and then splicing the other end with the aluminum wiring behind the walls.

In the Orange County case, Christie said she awoke in her second-floor bedroom in the middle of the night and smelled smoke. She went to the stairs and saw a small fire, then went to a bathroom and soaked several towels, hoping to extinguish the blaze with them.

“By the time I went downstairs, the fire had moved all over the room,” Christie recalled recently. “It had spread like a bomb.”

Within minutes, the house was a total loss. Investigators believe her son died of smoke inhalation.

‘I Thought I Was Sick’

“I did not accept that my son was dead for a couple of months,” she said. “I thought I was dreaming. I thought I was sick.”

At the time, she said, she “didn’t know there was such a thing as aluminum wiring.”

The fire hazard stems from the connection of the aluminum wire with the outlet devices in the walls of homes, according to C. Mark Hopkins, Christie’s lawyer.

Insulation around the aluminum is stripped to expose the bare wire. It is then attached to the outlet, which is secured to the wall. When aluminum is exposed to the air, aluminum oxide--which resists the flow of electricity--gradually forms as a film over the bare wire ends. Aluminum also expands and contracts with heat, as electricity flows through it, gradually loosening the connection to the outlet.

The result can be a red-hot connection at the outlet device in the wall, which Hopkins contends was the cause of the Christie fire.

Hopkins’ task was complicated by the fact that up to six different brands of generic aluminum wire were believed to have been used in the Christie home. Unable to identify specific manufacturers, Hopkins sued all aluminum wire manufacturers he could find who marketed their products in California. Last month, an Orange County Superior Court judge rejected legal challenges brought by defendants in the case.

To date, two aluminum wire manufacturers have contributed $20,000 each to get out of the case, Hopkins said, adding that the owner of the Christies’ rented home contributed another $300,000 through an insurer.

Suit by Safety Commission

The problems associated with aluminum wiring led the federal Consumer Products Safety Commission to sue 26 wire producers in 1977. The commission sought to force the manufacturers to issue warnings about imminent fire danger, and to replace faulty wiring.

But the commission lost in federal court, which ruled it had no authority to regulate branch circuit wiring systems. A judge ruled that aluminum wire, when connected to an outlet, is not a “product” subject to the authority of the commission.

Chesley, the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire lawyer, said many firms in the aluminum industry fight hard against lawsuits.

“They know the cost to try these cases is spectacularly large.” Sums of “$300,000 to $500,000 are not unrealistic,” Chesley said. “They’re working the law of averages.”

Most fires involve only property damage, not deaths, Chesley said. Standard insurance covers such losses, and insurers find it simpler to recoup costs through increased premiums, he added.