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Landlord: The tenant caused a fire that led to death; why should I be sent to prison? Introduction: Today is China’s \"119 Fire Safety Day.\" To raise awareness about fire hazards, the editor has chosen to use a case from Chengdu related to trials for fire-related crimes as a reminder: if fire hazards are not taken seriously, an accident could result in losses of life and property, and it might even lead to criminal charges and imprisonment. A real-life example: On January 23 of this year, a major fire broke out in a five-story self-built building in Jinyang Sub-district Office, Chengdu, resulting in 3 deaths, 6 injuries, and direct property losses amounting to 170,000 yuan. After investigation, it was ultimately determined that the fire was caused by a short circuit in the electrical wiring of one of the tenants. On September 29, 2016, the Wuhou District Court held the first-instance trial of this case, and ultimately convicted the tenant Chen Min (a pseudonym) of arson and sentenced her to 1 year and 10 months in prison ； The landlord, Lin Jun (a pseudonym), was convicted of arson and sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, with a two-year suspension of execution. Reason for the tenant’s conviction: Illegal wiring. As a tenant, Chen Min (a pseudonym) installed illegal wiring by connecting three power strips, including one that had been modified herself, in series to supply power to all the electrical appliances in her room. One of these power strips was fixed to a wooden wardrobe, while the others were placed near it; this created a serious fire hazard, and ultimately a fire broke out due to a short circuit in the wiring. The reason the landlord was convicted was mainly that he failed to prevent the tenants from illegally wiring the premises. 1 After building the house in 2005, the landlord Lin Jun failed to obtain a property ownership certificate without going through the inspection process. The landlord, Lin Jun, arbitrarily divided one of the rooms on the first floor using wooden partitions and rented it out to several tenants, including Chen Min, who was in the room where the fire broke out on the first floor. The use of materials with a low fire resistance rating, along with the structure of the buildings and illegal constructions, makes it impossible to escape quickly in case of a fire, resulting in casualties. 3. The interior of the building features a light-filled courtyard, and floors 1 to 4 of the entire unit are interconnected internally. As a result, the large amounts of toxic smoke generated by fires spread to all floors through the concrete latticed windows, stairwells, and the courtyard. Design flaws prevented residents on upper floors from evacuating via the stairwells, leading to casualties. 4. As the landlord, Lin Jun failed to carry out effective management and maintenance of the electrical wiring in that building ； No action was taken to stop house tenants from illegally wiring electrical circuits and using appliances beyond their capacity, nor was any action taken to prevent them from locking off the passages in the buildings. Basis for the judgment: Crime of causing a fire. Concept of the crime of causing a fire: The crime of causing a fire refers to an act in which a person, through negligence, triggers a fire, resulting in serious consequences such as serious injuries or deaths to people, or significant damage to public or private property, thereby posing a threat to public safety. The main characteristics of the crime of arson: 1. Objectively, there must be serious consequences that endanger public safety. If there is only an act of setting fire without causing serious consequences, or if the damage is minor, it does not constitute this crime. 2. Subjectively, the perpetrator acts out of negligence. That is, the perpetrator should have foreseen that his actions might lead to consequences harmful to society; due to negligence, he failed to foresee such consequences, or, even if he did foresee them, he believed that they could be avoided, which resulted in those consequences. The former is a fault of carelessness, while the latter is a fault of overconfidence. Penalties for the crime of arson: 1) Those who fall under any of the following circumstances shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years: 1. Causing the death of three or more persons ； 2. 10 people seriously injured, or deaths and 10 or more people seriously injured ； 3. Causing direct property losses of over 1 million yuan ； 4. Destruction of 30 or more households with total direct property losses of over 500,000 yuan ； 5. The area of overgrown forest land is 50 hectares or more, or for protective forests and forests for special purposes, it is 10 hectares or more ； 6. Although the number of casualties, the number of households damaged by fire, and the direct property losses do not reach the specified thresholds, the circumstances are serious enough to cause significant disruption to production, teaching, and daily life. 2) Those who fall under any of the following circumstances shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention: 1. Causing the death of 1 or more persons or serious injuries to 3 or more persons ； 2. Causing direct property losses of over 300,000 yuan ； 3. Destruction of 15 or more households, with total direct property losses exceeding 250,000 yuan ； 4. The area of overburned forest land is 2 hectares or more. The editor’s note: Although this fire has come to an end, its tragic consequences can never be erased. Here, the editor would like to remind many landlords who shirk their responsibilities: landlords are also liable in case of a fire caused by the tenants. In cities with a large population of immigrants such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, many property owners, out of laziness in managing their properties, rent them out to \"sub landlords,\" who then sublet them to other tenants. They have no idea what happens to those properties, which undoubtedly creates problems for them.