Fire Cause Analysis New York

By Tammie Caldwell


Once a fire has been brought under control and all of the occupants are safe, attention turns to finding out why it happened. Fire cause analysis New York is important for many reasons. One is to find ways of preventing other fires from starting the same way. Another is to identify whether it was an accident or arson. If it was set deliberately, then the culprit must be stopped to keep him (or her) from starting other fires and to bring them to justice. This becomes even more important if there was loss of human life involved.

The process is a mixture of different disciplines. It requires personnel from different teams: forensics, science and engineering, and investigators. The unifying factor here is not fire, but forensics. Forensic engineers, forensic scientists, financial forensic experts and forensic analysis experts all put their talents and expertise toward the task of getting to the bottom of why a particular building went up in smoke.

Civil cases are even more complicated because they involve how fires spread, how well alarms and protective equipment like sprinklers performed and identifying who is ultimately liable for the incident. When law enforcement agencies arrive on the scene, their job is to find out if a crime was committed. If human involvement is identified, the question is whether it was intentional and premeditated or if it was just an accident.

Not all fires that are started intentionally are criminal acts. People leave cigarettes burning to check up on babies, they start fires in their back yards to burn trash, they leave curved glass in the sunlight next to something combustible. These are acts of negligence, not arson. These individuals do have to answer for the damage to property and any injuries or deaths that are caused by the incidents.

There is more than justice at stake in fire investigations, although that is certainly very important. Eventually, patterns begin to emerge that can lead to the design of better safety equipment or different methods of building structures. Equipment can range from sprinklers to alarm systems to doors and windows that can contain the spread of a conflagration.

A decent investigator can also preserve justice from the point of view of making sure the wrong person does not go to prison. Superficial investigation may point to a suspect, but it takes detailed knowledge, superior investigative skills and excellent laboratory backup to find out exactly what went wrong and who was responsible.

One of the first things the investigating teams looks for is the point of origin of the fire. It can sometimes be obvious if the cause was electrical, or a combination of flammable material piling up in a place where it could easily be ignited. In a bakery, for example, an accumulation of particles of flour can explode with ferocity if lit by a small spark.

Another critical question is whether an accelerant has been used. This is a signal that the blaze was set deliberately. In arson investigations, even the tiniest details can matter because arsonists often have characteristic signatures in terms of accelerants they use and other features of the inferno. Fire cause investigation can be a very rewarding and interesting career.




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