When copper thieves strike a home, the whole thing can go up in smoke.

“The whole house caught on fire. It’s an older house that’s probably build in the 40s,” HPD Captain Cesar Moore said.

Moore said copper thieves entered the house just hours before, disconnected the electric meter and started ripping out all the wires.

It was a brazen crime.

In a bathtub in the house, the crooks tried to burn off the insulation that surrounds the copper wire.

“They set it on fire in order to get the sheeting off, because the scrap yards don’t like to take it like this,” Moore said.

The fire spread, the suspects took off, and now the house is a total loss.

“And unfortunately the homeowner here was in the process of either selling or renting this place. And now … another crime we have because of copper,” Moore said.

And what did the thieves get out of it?  Maybe $150 worth of wire.

“Usually we see people with drug addictions, and often times they are homeless, so they are people that are very difficult to track down,” Moore said.

But he said you can help. If you see someone walking down the street caring wire or copper, call HPD so they can check it out.