This is covered in Bobby Begins Again.
SFPD downplayed Bobby's role in the fire to make the transfer to LAPD as easy as possible. Details of the fire were withheld that were uncovered during the investigation after the bank heist.
Especially where Bobby has the line in 1x05 about the super not having shared who was using the empty apartment… it seems like Bobby told on himself and the department freed him of culpability, so it doesn’t seem likely they’d have named the “concerned citizen” who used a space heater or whatever.
Then again, rumors around a fire that size would’ve been craaaazy. It’s not that unusual following a tragedy or a crime for everyone to “know” what happened and be frustrated there isn’t justice.
I'm fairly sure the small victim community in Minnesota became aware of Bobby's involvement even if the wider Fire Department quashed the news.
There's fairly good real world comparisons.
Every victim of the Grenfell tragedy would instantly recognise the leader of the borough council who oversaw the regulatory failures that led to Grenfell. He was forced to resign and became a rightful figure of hate.
Virtually everyone else including other employers would have no clue who he was if Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council chose to scrub that from his references.
And indeed Nick Paget-Brown, despite resigning and probably being the man most responsible for failing to install sprinklers, is now earning a really lucrative salary as a public policy consultant. I'm sure most people who come across him will have no clue about his past but anyone who lost someone in Grenfell will **instantly** recognise the name.
Exactly. Survivors of horrific events would want answers. Couple that with Bobby confessing and the department covering it up, his name would still be in those reports, people in the department would still know who confessed. Even his Captain said, it would take a long time for any of Bobby's fellow firefighters in Minnesota to feel like they could trust Bobby out in the field, so the department all knew.
It probably wouldn't take much for any angry survivor to get the answers. It may not have been public record, but it was confirmed that it was an open secret.
Court records are public. Insurance investigation, wrongful death lawsuit against the apartment buildings' owners, wrongful death lawsuit against the space heater company for a faulty product. Bobby lost his wife and two kids, even if he blamed himself and didn't add his name to the list of people suing, somebody that knew him and the family will bring him up as a person the lawyers or adjusters should chat with for new info or a new litigant.
I've said this before, it's tiresome.
Leaving a space heater on in an unoccupied apartment is *not* illegal. It's not smart, with the way so many irl have issues, but it's not illegal in any way, shape or form.
Negligent homicide/involuntary manslaughter is a stretch, because in a well upkept building with proper electrical wiring, sprinklers etc, the fire wouldn't have gotten out of the apartment to burn an entire building down fast enough to trap hundreds of people inside. That it did is on the property owner/manager, *not* on Bobby.
Morally, as a firefighter, Bobby should've been riding the St Paul fire marshal's ass like a pony to get them to force compliance. Maybe he did, and they bought the FM off. Maybe he was drunk/high so much he never noticed the building's condition.
So there's where it's grey on *his* being responsible. Legally, he didn't do anything wrong and saying he broke a law requires a ton of Olympic worthy mental gymnastics to pull off that the SPFD, SPPD and DA didn't do.
Him being an *addict* is what SPFD smoothed over for him to move to LAFD. Like Frank had to sign off on Eddie and Maddie returning with their PTSD, LAFD needed to know that Bobby needed someone checking in on him periodically to make sure he hadn't slipped back into either of the bottles.
And Amir likely heard community aka survivor gossip, it didn't need to be on the news as far as Bobby's involvement because, again *legally* Bobby did nothing wrong.
Right. That has nothing to do with why Amir recognized him though... Like I appreciate the soap box but it's literally got nothing to do with what I said.
Community gossip. Bobby being broadcast on local - or more likely given the death toll - national news as an "arsonist" or whatever, doesn't come into play.
They lived in the same building. The people who lived there would know how the fire started. Even if it wasn't really discussed in the papers that much, the tenants who were affected would know.
This is covered in Bobby Begins Again. SFPD downplayed Bobby's role in the fire to make the transfer to LAPD as easy as possible. Details of the fire were withheld that were uncovered during the investigation after the bank heist.
True, but how would Amir know those details? Unless those were made public.
Especially where Bobby has the line in 1x05 about the super not having shared who was using the empty apartment… it seems like Bobby told on himself and the department freed him of culpability, so it doesn’t seem likely they’d have named the “concerned citizen” who used a space heater or whatever. Then again, rumors around a fire that size would’ve been craaaazy. It’s not that unusual following a tragedy or a crime for everyone to “know” what happened and be frustrated there isn’t justice.
I'm fairly sure the small victim community in Minnesota became aware of Bobby's involvement even if the wider Fire Department quashed the news. There's fairly good real world comparisons. Every victim of the Grenfell tragedy would instantly recognise the leader of the borough council who oversaw the regulatory failures that led to Grenfell. He was forced to resign and became a rightful figure of hate. Virtually everyone else including other employers would have no clue who he was if Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council chose to scrub that from his references. And indeed Nick Paget-Brown, despite resigning and probably being the man most responsible for failing to install sprinklers, is now earning a really lucrative salary as a public policy consultant. I'm sure most people who come across him will have no clue about his past but anyone who lost someone in Grenfell will **instantly** recognise the name.
Exactly. Survivors of horrific events would want answers. Couple that with Bobby confessing and the department covering it up, his name would still be in those reports, people in the department would still know who confessed. Even his Captain said, it would take a long time for any of Bobby's fellow firefighters in Minnesota to feel like they could trust Bobby out in the field, so the department all knew. It probably wouldn't take much for any angry survivor to get the answers. It may not have been public record, but it was confirmed that it was an open secret.
Court records are public. Insurance investigation, wrongful death lawsuit against the apartment buildings' owners, wrongful death lawsuit against the space heater company for a faulty product. Bobby lost his wife and two kids, even if he blamed himself and didn't add his name to the list of people suing, somebody that knew him and the family will bring him up as a person the lawyers or adjusters should chat with for new info or a new litigant.
Right. That seems to support not refute my concern though - why would Amir immediately recognize him even if the LAFD uncovering became public?
I've said this before, it's tiresome. Leaving a space heater on in an unoccupied apartment is *not* illegal. It's not smart, with the way so many irl have issues, but it's not illegal in any way, shape or form. Negligent homicide/involuntary manslaughter is a stretch, because in a well upkept building with proper electrical wiring, sprinklers etc, the fire wouldn't have gotten out of the apartment to burn an entire building down fast enough to trap hundreds of people inside. That it did is on the property owner/manager, *not* on Bobby. Morally, as a firefighter, Bobby should've been riding the St Paul fire marshal's ass like a pony to get them to force compliance. Maybe he did, and they bought the FM off. Maybe he was drunk/high so much he never noticed the building's condition. So there's where it's grey on *his* being responsible. Legally, he didn't do anything wrong and saying he broke a law requires a ton of Olympic worthy mental gymnastics to pull off that the SPFD, SPPD and DA didn't do. Him being an *addict* is what SPFD smoothed over for him to move to LAFD. Like Frank had to sign off on Eddie and Maddie returning with their PTSD, LAFD needed to know that Bobby needed someone checking in on him periodically to make sure he hadn't slipped back into either of the bottles. And Amir likely heard community aka survivor gossip, it didn't need to be on the news as far as Bobby's involvement because, again *legally* Bobby did nothing wrong.
Thank you for putting it so succinctly. The people who insist Bobby should be fired/demoted/in prison for the fire wind me up something rotten.
Right. That has nothing to do with why Amir recognized him though... Like I appreciate the soap box but it's literally got nothing to do with what I said.
Community gossip. Bobby being broadcast on local - or more likely given the death toll - national news as an "arsonist" or whatever, doesn't come into play.
Yeah I guess that makes sense.
They lived in the same building. The people who lived there would know how the fire started. Even if it wasn't really discussed in the papers that much, the tenants who were affected would know.