Google Street View Catches House on Fire

Is it ethic to publish this, along with an address?

I'm sure no one lives there now. But you aren't the first to question Google Street View's ethics.

"9. Turn Right onto ___ St."
"10. You are at Burning House, Sherwood, AR."

I thought this was pretty cool. Not just because you get to see a burning house, but because you could move around and get a time lapse of neighbors moving around. Even kids riding bikes, hopping curbs, and all sorts of things. You rarely get to see so many people in neighborhoods on google street view.

-JC: How is it not ethical to publish it? I'm probably missing something but I can't think of anything.

That fire hydrant sure seems far away. I followed the hose down the street. Makes me wonder how close our house is to the nearest hydrant.

Wow dude, Google Streetmaps is gcool.

JT
www.FireMe.To/udi

Really cool. I never thought google would catch a house fire on their street view.

Interesting how things like this are going to be documented in the years to come.

Just send the link to the insurance company ...

Ha, check this out: click down about 2 blocks. Looks like the streetview car drove around a fire department pickup trick and ran over the fire hose. The volunteer fire department guy is flipping them off!

http://tinyurl.com/555o3s

It is amazing what Google Street View picks up. Everyone should check their own street and make sure they were not caught doing anything embarrassing! Japan just got street view last week, and I'm nowhere to be found on my Tokyo street:

http://jasoncollin.org/2008/08/06/walk-down-my-street-tokyo-japan-google-maps-street-view/

I would think whoever was driving the car would report it to google and have a new picture by now. I wouldn't be surprised if they update the image within a month or two.

is it real, i don't believe that.

I thought the hydrant seemed really far away, too. The closest one to me is one house over.

Explain why you think it's unethical to publish pictures taken from public property. It's public information that there is a house there, and that it was on fire. How is this unethical?

That looks like a shot from SecondLife. From the smoke to the hydrant to the fact that the emergency servies would even *allow* the car in that vicinity, I think you'll find it's fake. Nice landscaping, too - a single, giant palm tree.

I am a firefighter in NJ, and i'm wondering why they aren't inside that house. That is a very easily fought fire, and they are standing outside using master streams. I can not see one hoseline into that house. I would not be surprised if that house burned to the ground.

"Is it [ethical] to publish this, along with an address?"

Sure, why not? If you think burnt out houses are something special, visit Detroit, Michigan. We still have houses that were burnt out in the 70's riots and never rebuilt!

Lawlz... Never never never ever question the ethics of google or you will wake up to men in black suits knocking on your front door at 3 in the morning. I think it is quite funny. I want my house to be on fire on google earth.

@Cooties, I really hope you're kidding. Secondlife is sharp, but there's no way that's fake.

There is a frame missing right in front of the house. Maybe the Google Orbital Laser Platform (beta) misfired?

Seriously, I hope no one was home or got hurt.

Ethical? Not any different than the people standing around with their digital cameras posting photos on other websites or blogs.

Hope Google don't get sued for this!
You know that Google has been sued for privacy invasion before, so hope the owners of this house don't want to blame the infrared beam from Google Earth camera!
Everyone wants money from Google :D

That home was going to be foreclosed on. If I cant have the home nobody can muhahaha... striking match...

So what? Wait until streetview of Calcutta is available, you will see people dying along the curbs...

It seems that the specific snapshot shown in this article has been removed. However, the rest are still there, just click the N or S arrows to see them.

Chris.. are you fricken kidding me? its vented itself through almost the ENTIRETY of the roof... lightweight wood truss can and will fail after 5-10 mins of direct flame exposure.... and you can see flames though the house as well. feel free to go interior on that but im gonna hang back and go defensive. surround and drown, protect the neighbors houses... i love my wife and kids to much to go interior on a home that is a total loss and a deathtrap

Go to the frames where the Google car drove up the street where the firetrucks are. What is that about, getting in the way? Like drove right up to the back of one...

http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2008/08/13/5163_ntnews.html

Another Google Street View Frame - Man caught by Google passed out on the side walk.

Oh!! very bad luck for the family that this disaster was captured byu big G

As I always say to the unemployed, "Better you than me."

Went to take a look at it, but most of the images in the vicinity are now "no longer available". I don't understand why Google would remove these, I don't see why this is unethical. The house is burning, should we all just close our eyes?

It's been said before, Google Maps is just like someone passing by and taking a picture, like most people do...

If Google Maps' shots of the burning house is unethical, then what do we make of a reporter covering the story, with the fire in the background?

You're all missing the point. A SOMEBODY'S HOUSE WAS DESTROYED. There lives were in that house, precious photos, jewelry, gifts and important documents and you think thats cool?! Thats sick if you think this is great.

I hate google street view with a passion and someone should not be allowed to take photos of my house, which they have. I wish I had of been there to give those Mofos the finger.

The street where this happened is not registered on google maps anymore

IT IS NOT ALLOWING ME TO SEE IT :(

I thnk the people who lived in this house asked Google to remove this picture from Street View, because whe I drag the Street View guy onto the map, that part isn't outlined in blue anymore.

HAH! talk about fucking embarasing , hey kids look its the google maps car....do i smell smoke? hahahha (yes i know im a terribul person and i sleep fine at night,its just damned great timing though isnt it? WOOF up in flames as the google car takes a pretty picture atleast theyll remeber what the house looked like

@Isabelle

Gee whiz, get over yourself. In the US it's legal to take pictures of pretty much anything from public property. I see absolutely nothing illegal or unethical about images of this house remaining on Google.

What is supposed to be private about a home burning?

Just an update, folks. The burning house image is no longer on Google Maps, and the streetname has also been removed. It turns out the entire street where the fire truck was is taken out, and going down the intersecting main path leading to the main thoroughfare skips right over that intersection. Interestingly, you can still see the smoke in the images that are left; on the street to the north, you can see the smoke facing south, and same from the south street facing north. On the north street, the allowed travel route stops just shy of the view of the burning house.

And no, Google has not updated a single image. They oughta go down there sometime now and update that...

Well the section of the street with the house is gone, but you can see the smoke from either part of the street around the turn on each side.

Is it unethical for the bystanders to watch the fire? Is it unethical for the firefighters to actually see the fire? Of course not. Then how can it be unethical for it to be shown on Street View? f you don't want to see it, DON'T LOOK.
To Isabelle Apr 5th, 2009 at 4:50am who said "I wish I had of been there to give those Mofos the finger."
The phrase should be "had been there" or "had have been there" not "had of."

Perhaps Google removed these images to save themselves embarrasment, if the Google-mobile actually impeded the fire service in the course of their duties, that is pretty reprehensible. Similarly if they deliberately entered an area they shouldn't and jeapordised their own safety and that of others just to get some "cool shots".

1.) It's real.
2.) The fire hydrant isn't all that far away, it's just the angle of the shot.
3.) to the "NJ Firefighter" looking at that house, at the point in which it's deteriorated it would be pointless to save the house. What they're doing now is keeping the fire contained so it doesn't burn the rest of the area down. Kind of figure an actual firefighter would be able to tell that's what they're doing.
4.) There is nothing breaching ethics here. It's a map service, addresses aren't secrets. You can take a picture of an address and put it on the internet all you want. If you're thinking about its unethical because the fire; then you would be an idiot. Seriously, why bring up ethics just because a house is on fire? Do you ask about ethics every time they air some disaster on T.V.? I didn't think so.

That's so scary! I'm not sure wether it's ethical or not, but it is horrifying. What if there were people in there? But I do like the fact that the whole neighborhood came together to help.

They blocked off the street view for that section, but if you look at the surrounding streets you still see the smoke.. so weird.

Okay, it is real, but they won't let anyone see the actual fire. If you go to this website: http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=E+Eagle+Point+Dr,+Shelton,+Mason,+Washington+98584,+United+States&ie=UTF8&oi=georefine&ct=clnk&cd=5&geocode=FV230QIdTJSo-A&split=0
and go through the streets you can see the smoke and the water hose.

THATS MY HOUSE!

they don't allow u to do street view

I found the back of the house with Google maps. Google maps won't let me see the street, probably because of the fire...? The back of the house is also smoking, so I believe this. The closest I can probably get is "12 Eagle Point Drive, Gibson, Arkansas."

It is not a house in Arkansas. I went up and down Eagle Point Dr. and saw no homes like this. This is a newer construction home.