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FIR 4315, Fire Investigation Technician 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit II Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

6. Determine the causes of fires. 6.1 Identify the causes of fires. 6.2 Discuss the contributing factors of fires.

Course/Unit

Learning Outcomes Learning Activity

6.1

Unit Lesson Chapter 17, pp. 305–309 Chapter 18, pp. 312–316 Article: “Different Factors for Different Causes: Analysis of the Spatial

Aggregations of Fire Ignitions in Catalonia (Spain)” Article: “The Behavior of Liquid Fuel on Carpet (Porous Media): A Case for the

Inclusion of Science in Fire Investigation” Article: “Cigarette Fires Involving Upholstered Furniture in Residences: The

Role That Smokers, Smoker Behavior, and Fire Standard Compliant Cigarettes Play”

Unit II Research Paper

6.2

Unit Lesson Chapter 17, pp. 305–309 Chapter 18, pp. 312–316 Article: “Different Factors for Different Causes: Analysis of the Spatial

Aggregations of Fire Ignitions in Catalonia (Spain)” Article: “The Behavior of Liquid Fuel on Carpet (Porous Media): A Case for the

Inclusion of Science in Fire Investigation” Article: “Cigarette Fires Involving Upholstered Furniture in Residences: The

Role That Smokers, Smoker Behavior, and Fire Standard Compliant Cigarettes Play”

Unit II Research Paper Required Unit Resources Chapter 17: Fire Cause Determination, pp. 305–309 Chapter 18: Classification of Fire Cause, pp. 312–316 In order to access the following resources, click the links below. This article discusses the impact of socioeconomic factors on fire cause. González-Olabarria, J. R., Mola-Yudego, B., & Coll, L. (2015). Different factors for different causes: Analysis

of the spatial aggregations of fire ignitions in Catalonia (Spain). Risk Analysis, 35(7), 1197–1209. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=bcr&AN=108632177&site=ehost-live&scope=site

UNIT II STUDY GUIDE Fire Cause Determination and Classification

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This article discusses the advancement of fire investigation in reference to pour patterns on the carpet. Olenick, S. M., Klassen, M. S., Roby, R. J., Ma, T., & Torero, J. L. (2010). The behavior of liquid fuel on

carpet (porous media): A case for the inclusion of science in fire investigation. Fire Technology, 46(4), 843–852. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=bcr&AN=52946633&site=ehost-live&scope=site

This article discusses new research on cigarettes and fire cause. Butry, D. T., & Thomas, D. S. (2017). Cigarette fires involving upholstered furniture in residences: The role

that smokers, smoker behavior, and fire standard compliant cigarettes play. Fire Technology, 53(3), 1123–1146. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=bcr&AN=122196741&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Unit Lesson

Introduction When a discussion about fire cause and classification happens, most of the time it is what lit the fire that is being discussed. The idea behind the concept of fire cause and classification goes beyond just what started the fire. The fire investigator needs to understand what the circumstances were in the area of the fire and if it is arson. Start by asking a simple question: “what was the motivation for the person to set the fire?” This unit is about becoming better acquainted with what is happening and how the whole picture makes up the actual fire investigation. Determining the ignition source, the first fuel burned, if there was an oxidizing agent, as well as deciding if the fire was accidental, natural, or incendiary is very important to the fire investigator when trying to decrease the likelihood of the fire reoccurring. The investigator should understand what was happening before that fire and how the factors came together to start the fire that is being investigated. The understanding of the broad concept of fire cause, origin, and classification will help investigators better prepare themselves for all investigations, but most importantly, for the ones that end up in court.

Cause and Origin The determination of the cause and origin of a fire is the most basic of the functions that an investigator will conduct. Where the fire started and what started the fire is what most people think of when discussing fire investigation. Understanding the way the fire progressed and how it spread through the damaged area will be part of the hypothesis that needs to be developed for the investigation. An important part of the investigation will be to avoid the assumption that the most heavily damaged area is where the fire started since the additional damage could be based on the fuel and the fuel load in that area of the fire (Overholt & Ezekoye, 2015). The understanding behind all fires, no matter what is burning or where the fire is located, is that there is always an ignition source that provided the initial energy to start the fire. It is imperative to find the ignition source and then determine if it had the capability to heat the first fuel to the point of combustion. The ignition source could also be a simple arc if the first fuel was a type of gas such as natural gas. This would be harder to find than most other fire sources because you have to determine where in the area the mixture of the gas allowed for the proper flammability. The ignition source must have the ability to create a form of heat. The heat source must be able to transmit energy to the fuel to raise the first fuel burned to its ignition temperature. This will allow the fuel to break down and allow burning to grow. The ignition temperature differs based on the fuel; for example, gasoline fumes do not ignite at the same temperature as steel beams According to the International Association of Fire Chiefs [IAFC], International Association of Arson Investigators [IAAI], and National Fire Protection Association [NFPA], (2019), the term probable is defined as:

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a level of certainty that would correspond to being more likely true than not. The level of certainty would hold the determination to be at a level greater than 50 percent. This level of certainty is required for a fire cause to be classified as a natural, accidental, or incendiary in nature. (p. 308)

However, the term possible is a “level of certainty that would be regarded as feasible but not probable” (IAFC et al., 2019, p. 308). For example, if we believe that a fire in a living room was started by an extension cord but cannot verify if the extension cord was there, this is not conclusive and should not be our classification or finding. The next step that fire investigators have to reflect on is determining what the first fuel ignited was and how it was in place to be ignited. The first fuel ignited will be something that the ignition source was able to ignite; and the fuel was able to sustain burning until more fuel began to burn, or until the fire went out. An easy way to understand this is to think about lighting a campfire. If you just have big logs you cannot light the fire with a match, if you break those logs down to pieces of wood like splinters, then you can light it with a match. The need to find the ignition source and the first burned fuel is paramount in determining what happened and how the fire occurred in this particular place (Cho et al., 2015). The next question to answer is whether there was any oxidizing agent involved in the fire. This obviously means added oxidizer since the room air is an oxidizer for the fire. The investigator will need to look for medical oxygen supply or pool chemicals that can serve as oxidizers to understand the whole picture of the fire. These items, when found along with why the ignition source and first fuel are together, make up the ignition sequence of the fire. Once this has been determined, then the investigator needs to move on to look at developing hypotheses and proving that the hypotheses are not true. By focusing on proving the hypotheses untrue, the investigator will avoid the bias that is inherent with proving that you are right. This method allows the investigator to work at proving themselves right and not just gathering proof to back up what they are saying.

Applying the Scientific Method The focus of the investigation needs to be on all of the data that has been gathered thus far in the investigation. The gathering of the data will help to determine the point of origin and first fuel. Once these are known, a hypothesis can be developed. A separate hypothesis for each possible ignition source should be developed and one by one should be proven untrue. By looking at the analysis of the ignition source, the fuel source that first ignited the fire, and what maintained the fire for the duration, the fire investigator has started to work through the scientific process. At this point in the investigation, it is essential to avoid reaching conclusions without eliminating every possible ignition source. Determining the fire cause cannot be an opinion based upon experiences or previous investigations into fire causes. Fire investigators must show that the information from their investigation is the only conclusion that can be reached regarding the cause of the fire and that it corresponds to the hypothesis on how the fire started. If the only conclusion that can be found after all of the data is gathered and analyzed is an unknown cause, then the fire cause should be undetermined. The investigator should never use the conclusion as a possible cause for any fire. The need to go through this process and support your conclusions with verifiable evidence cannot be overstated. The elimination of all other sources with just one remaining source does not make that one remaining source the cause. The investigator needs to be able to show that the conclusion is the correct one based on the information that is found at the scene. A primary focus of the investigator during the investigation process should be to avoid a courtroom accusation that the investigator conducted an investigation using negative corpus.

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Classification of Fire Cause The fire investigator will have to classify the fires they are investigating into one of four classifications: accidental, natural, incendiary or undetermined. Accidental fires are fires that are caused by unintentional activity such as open flames on candles or space heaters that have combustibles located too close to them. Incendiary fires are caused by an intentional act of someone to cause damage to persons or property; this is usually referred to as arson. There is also the natural classification of uncontrolled events that include lightning, wind, earthquakes, and other acts of nature. There is no human participation in the starting of the fire, but sometimes it would not have occurred without a human action; for example, an earthquake causes a gas line to rupture and catch fire. Had there been no gas line, there would have been no fire. This is part of looking at the entire picture that is present when determining why a fire occurred. The fire investigator will sometimes classify a fire as undetermined early in the investigation while waiting for lab results or other matters to be concluded. When undetermined is the final classification of a fire, it is most likely because there was not enough evidence left to determine the cause and origin of the fire. The investigator may gather the evidence at the fire and continue to test and process the evidence after the initial part of the investigation is completed. The fire will most likely be classified as undetermined while this is occurring. The idea is to get the fire classified correctly, based on the data that was gathered and make sure all of this information is based on evidence that was gathered through the use of the scientific method.

Conclusion Determining the cause and origin of fires is a basic firefighter skill that goes back to firefighter II training and the discussion about scene preservation. The fire investigator will look at the cause and origin of fires in a different way when analyzing the scene that the firefighter is just trying to protect. The need in any investigation of any fire is to find the ignition source; first fuel burned and then determine the ignition sequence, all by using the scientific method that has been discussed in these first two units. The next unit will continue to help the investigator better understand how fire investigation works through basic fire science and the analysis of fire patterns.

References Cho, Y., Kong, Y., Sa, S., Choi, C., Kim, D., Goh, J.,Choi, D. (2015). Forensic analysis on the cause and

origin of the 2009 indoor shooting range fire in Pusan, Korea. Fire Technology, 51(5), 1113–1128. International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Arson Investigators, & National Fire

Protection Association. (2019). Fire investigator: Principles and practice to NFPA 921 and 1033 (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett.

Overholt, K. J., & Ezekoye, O. A. (2015). Quantitative testing of fire scenario hypotheses: A Bayesian

inference approach. Fire Technology, 51(2), 335–367.

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Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. This article discusses fire investigation from the private investigator perspective. Fetrow, J. (2014). Subrogation and the fire expert. Claims, 62(8), 28–30.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=bcr&AN=97329111&site=ehost-live&scope=site

This article discusses the testing of home appliances for arc fault in determining fire cause. Hoffmann, D. J., Swonder, E. M., & Burr, M. T. (2016). Arc faulting in household appliances subjected to a fire

test. Fire Technology, 52(6), 1659–1666. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=bcr&AN=119057959&site=ehost-live&scope=site

This article discusses factors that should be considered when investigating fireplace fires. Roberts, C. C., Jr. (2013). Subrogation matters: Fireplace installation and construction defects: Establishing

fire cause and origin post-loss. Claims, 61(12), 30–32. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=bth&AN=92610654&site=ehost-live&scope=site

This article discusses how beads forming on copper wiring can have other causes. Wright, S. A., Loud, J. D., & Blanchard, R. A. (2015). Globules and beads: What do they indicate about small-

diameter copper conductors that have been through a fire? Fire Technology, 51(5), 1051–1070. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=bcr&AN=109172417&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Learning Activities (Nongraded) Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information. Before completing your graded work, consider completing the “Case Study” and “On Scene” exercises for Chapters 17 and 18. Completing these exercises will help you with your graded work. The exercises can be found on the following pages: Chapter 17: “Case Study,” p. 304 Chapter 17: “On Scene,” pp. 309-310 Chapter 18: “Case Study,” p. 312 Chapter 18: “On Scene,” pp. 315-316 If you have any questions or do not understand a concept, contact your professor for clarification.