Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
Florida officials have decided not to file criminal charges against a Tampa morning radio host who was responsible for a live stunt involving a fire in a van last December. Todd Schnitt, the host of the M.J. Morning Show on WFLZ, and two other employees will enter a pre-trial diversion program.
The stunt involved deep-frying a turkey in a van located in a parking lot. The van had been stripped of its gas tank in order to minimize the risk – and a frozen turkey was lowered through a hole cut in the van’s roof into a pot of boiling oil. While the crew seems to have anticipated that a fire would extend from the fryer to the van (and based on their “on-air” comments seemed to enjoy the fact that it did), Hillsborough State’s Attorney Mark Ober said there was no intent to commit arson. He did cite them for an open burning violation.
Is this just another case of officials not taking fire related crimes seriously? After all, fires are just an accident…. right?
