Hartford Fire Books #3

Another good book on the Hartford fire is A MATTER OF DEGREE (2001) by Don Massey and Rick Davey. In 1982, Davey, an arson investigator for the Hartford Fire Department, undertook his own reexamination of the evidence collected during the original fire investigation in 1944. (The 1944 investigation, which had been conducted by the Connecticut State Police and NOT the Hartford Fire Department, had concluded that the fire had been caused by someone flipping away a lit cigarette which had somehow lodged in a fold of the big top’s sidewall, setting it on fire.) After studying the official police photos, the statements taken from witnesses, and other evidence, Davey concluded that the fire had, in fact, been an act of arson. (The book goes into some detail as to why Davey -- an experienced and highly regarded arson investigator -- came to that conclusion.)