Now that we have covered the basic premise of fire investigations and discussed briefly the different types of witness interview and time line techniques, we will venture into fire cause and classification.
Cause and Classification
When conducting an investigation, fire investigators are ultimately searching for the origin and cause of the event. In order to do this, the investigator sets out to determine where and how the fire started.
The cause of the fire refers to the circumstances, conditions, or agencies that bring together a fuel, ignition source, and oxidizer (such as air or oxygen) resulting in a fire. Fire classifications are developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and are used to standardize the way in which investigators categorize a fire. These classifications take into account the type of combustibles involved in a fire such as flammable liquids or gases, live electrical equipment, common combustibles (such as wood), combustible metals and cooking media.
Next week will we begin examining the various cause classifications of fires in greater detail.
Series 2, Post 4
