Disgruntled Employee’s Arson Attempt is Foiled

Rick was not the nicest boss to most of his employees. It always seemed like he had a chip on his shoulder about something. He was even hostile with employees that had been with him for more than fifteen years, and the only reason they continued to work for him was the lack of a better job. Even though he was hostile, he always paid his employees a decent wage, and their checks were there every Friday afternoon. His disrespectful attitude earned him a few enemies and this was one of the reasons that he installed a home security system in his house.

Rick owned a landscaping business amongst other things and he could afford many great things, such as nice cars, televisions, electronics and that sort of thing. His house was full of all the toys and gadgets that many people dreamed of, and for him these things symbolized his accomplishments on life. It was another reason to keep the house protected, although the amount of home invasions in the area was minimal and almost non-existent. He made sure to keep the sign from the home security company placed on his front lawn as an extra deterrent to keep robbers away.

In the spring and summer, the company had a lot of work landscaping for private households. In the summer they had plenty of lawns to mow and Rick had a big fleet of employees in the summer and into the early fall. He would lay off some in the fall, while the others that he kept on raked fallen leaves and delivered and stacked firewood. In the winter he brought back some of the guys to operate his fleet of snowplows, and some others who would shovel walkways and front yards.

For more than six years Bill had been a full-time year round employee. He didn't particularly like Rick, but he liked that he gave him year round employment and he was able to live a decent life and provide for his family. In the winter he was one of the lucky ones who got to sit in the warm truck cab and plow snow from driveways instead of breaking his back shoveling out in the cold. For some reason Rick had some issues with Bill in the fall that year and in the winter, after six years of dedicated work, he took his truck away and put him on the shoveling crew. Bill did it for about a week thinking it would just be temporary, but when he realized Rick was not fooling around, he walked off the job never to return.

Bill was enraged and sought revenge. He knew that Rick usually took a vacation after the winter season, typically in March. He knew that the house would be empty then. Around that time he started watching the hosue and after a few days with no activity he went and doused the back side of the house in gasoline. He got far enough away and threw a flaming ball of paper and the house ignited. He quickly fled the scene. He didn't realize that the home security system had smoke detectors installed and would alert the fire department.

They arrived on the scene as quickly as they could after they had gotten the call and they put the fire out with the house receiving minimal damage. Bill's plan had been thwarted, but the house would need some rebuilding and Rick wouldn't be able to live in there for a while. Rick was pleased that he had installed the home security system because otherwise everything would have been a total loss. The fire marshal concluded it was a case of arson, but the local authorities never apprehended anyone.

adt home alarm systems come with smoke detectors and heat sensors that will help keep fire damage to a minimum if one is to ever occur. adt alarm systems will alert your local fire department if there is any problem while you are away.