Three-Month ATF Investigation Concludes Trees Burn

Here’s your public service announcement for the summer: Water your Christmas trees daily.

Thank you.

Also, thank the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the federal agency that reached that stunning conclusion this week after conducting a three-month investigation into the unsuspicious mansion fire in Annapolis, Md., in January that killed six people, including four children.

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Anne Arundel County, Md., released a report Wednesday describing the months-long investigation into a January mansion fire in Annapolis, Md.

Everyone already knew the tree did it. Local investigators said the fire started when the electrical outlet next to the tree, which had as many as 16 strings of light hooked to it, overloaded the circuit, setting off a spark that ignited the kindling.

So why did ATF have to conduct a controlled burn to determine that Christmas trees should be watered? Was the Consumer Product Safety Commission on vacation?

“It’s a very unique situation, because typically we wouldn’t do this for a case that was ruled accidental or not involved in any kind of federal prosecution. But the fire research lab is here to support state and local investigations,” Dave Cheplak, a special agent and spokesman for the ATF, told The Washington Post in February before the investigation began.

By the way, this clue into ATF motive emerged because the Post was doing a feature on the agency’s fire research lab in Beltsville, Md., just weeks after the agency issued a fact sheet press release on the facility. That’s some accidental investigative work, huh? Thanks, Washington Post.

where the fire burned, had some connections. He was a telecommunications executive and the couple was well known for their local philanthropy (though a Federal Election Commission search shows only one political donation — from Sandra to the Republican National Committee — in 2012).

The county asked for ATF’s help after the blaze was under control, saying the dwelling was too large for its fire department personnel to comb through for bodies.

But why would ATF bother to do a Christmas tree investigation? These are the guys known for Fast and Furious, illegal entrapment of suspects, and a proposed bullet ban on ammunition for AR-15s.

Earlier this year, Republicans in Congress talked about taking apart the $1.2 billion agency (talked, what else is new?) because of its attempts to limit Second Amendment rights. How about doing it out of pure misappropriation of funds and an absolute detour from its original mission, which was to prevent arson, bombings, gang activity, and bootlegging?