The Big Fire

Originally Aired: March 13, 1952

Dragnet #144, "The Big Fire," finds Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ed Jacobs investigating a bizarre landlord-tenant dispute that has taken a dangerous turn. Mrs. Cameron and her friend Doris Ashby, both young mothers who recently relocated to Los Angeles with their husbands for work at an aircraft plant, have leased apartments in a building recently purchased by a man named Daniels. Despite signing leases and paying rent in advance, when the women attempt to move in with their furniture, Daniels appears on the scene and flies into a rage, making various excuses about why the apartments aren't ready—claims Mrs. Cameron knows are lies.

The situation escalates dramatically when Daniels pulls a gun and threatens to shoot the women and the moving men if they proceed. With Mrs. Cameron holding her four-month-old baby, the terrified group retreats and calls the police. Now, as Friday interviews the distraught Mrs. Cameron in her cramped auto court quarters, he must determine whether they're dealing with a dangerous madman or whether something else is behind Daniels' violent refusal to honor the leases for his vacant apartment building.

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