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Pasadena, Md.
Kristen Wyatt-AP
Firefighters weren't sure what was causing the smoke rising from a former discount store from this Baltimore discount store in this Balttmore suburb.. The place had been abandoned for years and it's interior stripped to the walls.
When they got inside July 2, they found only one thing burning: a 41 year old man who became engulfed in flames and died after cutting through a high voltage line.
Sean Phelps became another ghastly casualty of what authorities say is a deadly national trend: copper wiring thefts.
High copper prices in recent years have theives breaking into power plants and abandoned factories to rip out the wiring. "Vandals are even stealing from gravesites."
There is no national count of people killed in copper theft attempts, but news accounts put the toll at about two dozen over the past 12 months.
Phelps, a father of nine and a former long-haul trucker who famly members say was trying to scavenge scrap metal to help support his family, was found alone in the empty building, next to a set of bolt cutters,, a police scanner and the stores lone remaining electrical panel.
The practice is so dangerous that utility workers refer to it as "a dance with the devil." But it is profitibl for those who don't get hurt.
Copper prices have shot up almost fourfold in the past decade, an increase attributed to rising demand from Asia. Copper now trades on financial markeets for $3.65 a pound. Then metal is hard to trace and retains its value well when recycled, so thieves are even targeting copper alloys such as brass.
