By MIKE GRAHAM wpix.com

10:56 a.m. EDT, May 6, 2010
NEW YORK (WPIX)—
A three-week investigation into the fatal Chinatown seven-alarm blaze has found that an overheated electrical junction box was to blame for the fire.

FDNY Fire Marshals have determined that the April 11 evening fire at 283 Grand Street in Manhattan that killed 87-year-old Sing Ho, and injured three other residents, and 30 firefighters and EMTs, after sparks or heat from the electrical box spread.

The report states that the metal junction box, which connected the electrical cables that fed power to the building was fixed into the rear of the first floor storage area of a 99-cent store. Apartments existed in the five floors above.

Forensic investigators discovered that the burn patterns at the scene led to the three-inch junction box as the origin of the fire.

Marshals began to focus on the box after noticing melted copper wire feeding out of it. Typically, investigators say, copper wire melts only due to a problem, such as a short within the box, not because of an external flame.