Fire Investigative - Essay Example

Name: Tutor: Title: Fire Invest: Firefighting tactics and Forensic awareness are critical to fire scene evidence presentation Course: Date: Introduction Fire investigative responsibilities are considered as one of the legal and scientific trends of forensic science transformations. Today, fire is being considered as a science subject, albeit in criminal prosecutions the perceptions about fire have resulted in misunderstandings about arson (Strutin 2012). Research shows that expert interpretations of different patterns occurring after a fire event provide critical fire pattern analyses that help in fire and arson investigations (National Fire Protection Association 2008). Although the major civil responsibility for the fire service experts is to determine the exact cause of fire, the main responsibility for fire investigations can be understood in two ways. If the cause of fire is proved to be accidental, it means that the scene will be left in charge of the owner’s insurance company to carry out more investigations. However, in situations where the cause of fire is determined to be intentionally set, then it means that a crime was committed, and thus it becomes the responsibility the law enforcement body to examine more into the crime (Reno et.al 2000, p.4). Understanding the roles of First Responders in providing accurate Fire Scene Evidence The actions taken by first responders to fire explosion scene is important for carrying out successful investigation into the fire incident. In this regard, it is necessary for the first responders to have a clear view of what comprises potential evidences and the appropriate actions needed to preserve the evidence. Public safety personnel play a crucial role not only in providing the emergence support of stopping the fire and saving people’s lives at the fire scene, but also giving important information that help to investigate the incident. It is important for the firefighters responding to a fire to keenly observe the conditions and ongoing activities at the fire scene so as to collect accurate information and give clear explanations to fire investigators who will arrive later at the scene. Therefore, it is recommended that when firefighters arrive at a fire scene, their responsibility as first responders should be to observe and take video tapes or voice recordings as a way of collecting accurate information. However, the most fundamental concern of firefighters is to ensure the safety of victims, bystanders or the general public which involves taking the necessary steps to identify and control safety hazards that could cause more threats (Reno et.al 2000, pp.13-20). It can be noted that the immediate arrival of first responders at a fire scene helps to acquire valuable information needed for fire investigation. Effective presentation of fire scene evidence largely depends on the capability of fire investigators to make accurate documentation and verification of fire debris samples. In addition, laboratory analysis provides important results about the effectiveness of fire protection measures or sources of fire outbreak. Fire scene sampling is considered a significant decision that fire investigators are required to make whilst undertaking their forensic analysis of fire scene evidence. It has been observed that sampling a wrong fire location or taking insufficient evidence can lead to inaccurate presentation of evidence and analysis about fire sources and causes scenario. Since fire investigators must understand the chemistry of fire combustion and extinction, it can be noted that fire investigation methods also involve applying scientific knowledge in collecting fire scene evidences and for forensic analysis in the laboratory (US Fire Administration, 2012, p.10). Icove and Dehaan (2008, p.22) argue that forensic fire scene analysis means taking on more responsibilities rather than simple identification of fire pattern damages. This implies that forensic evidence also involve human factors, for example, fingerprints and visible injuries that provide witness accounts regarding the cause of fire. It has been observed that for the past decades, a number of fire investigators were not knowledgeable enough about the fundamental theories and principles of fire dynamics. Today, there is a great need for fire investigators to verify the dynamics of fire events. Therefore, it is crucial for the fire investigator to have the knowledge of fire science so as to effectively apply the engineering concepts in managing the fire dynamics (DeHaan, 2006, p.69). Fighting a wildfire seems to be a simple task yet it is very complex when doing it practically. As a result, firefighters have the responsibility to effectively strategize and ensure that all individuals involved in the battle clearly understand the plan, the location of equipments used in firefighting and direction to which fire is moving. The main objective of firefighting is to protect lives, buildings and properties as well as ensuring the safety of all individuals affected by the outbreak of fire. Therefore, when firefighters are called to mitigate a wildfire, they should take into consideration a number of factors about the fire. This include the size of the fire, what is being burnt, the nearby things or people, the strategy that can be used to attack the fire and the firefighting equipments or tools that can be used to extinguish the fire and collect the fire scene evidences for presentation (Idaho Firewise 2013). The importance of knowing fire behaviors and the physical fitness required of Firefighters Research shows that firefighters who respond to fire emergence calls should be ready to cope with conditions such as the potentiality of fire explosions particularly in buildings that are not ventilated, in situations of wild-land fire outbreak the fire could be a threat to the nearby buildings as well as the smoke and flames from the fire could cause hazardous effect to health of people nearby. Technically, it has been found that fire occurs as a result of a combined chemical reaction between fuel, oxygen and heat. Furthermore, scientists and engineers have made efforts to understand fire and its behavior (Lilley 2008, p. 27). Therefore, firefighters are expected to be more knowledgeable about the fire behaviors that cause its explosion and spread so as to effectively interpret, collect and present fire scene evidences. This involves examining the different stages that the fire goes through which helps the firefighters to develop appropriate tactics to extinguish and investigate. With this knowledge, therefore, the firefighters not only collect and present accurate fire scene evidences but also they are able to identify potential hazards that may affect them and other people whilst in the battle of extinguishing the fire (The New Brunswick fire Service and Office of the Fire Marshal 2012, pp.11-20). Firefighters must be physically fit and healthy so as to safely perform their tasks of extinguishing the fire and collecting fire scene evidences. The safety of firefighters and the nearby people largely depends on the good health as well as the physical condition of the experts in fire fighting (The New Brunswick fire Service and Office of the Fire Marshal 2012, p.21). It can be noted that firefighting is a physically fit demanding profession which requires the firefighters to regularly make medical and physical check-ups. This could help in accurate fire scene evidences collection and presentation for court proceedings to establish the correct origin and cause of fire incidences. Preparing fire scene evidence for court proceedings In order to avoid contamination, fire investigators are required to provide control access to a fire scene once fire extinguishing has been done to enable proper preservation, gathering, documentation and presentation of fire scene evidence (Faith 2000, p.83). The following steps must be followed by fire investigators in ensuring effective preservation, collection and documentation of evidence at a fire scene to help in laboratory analysis as well as court proceedings. The ability to keep a series of collected evidence in a consistent manner, clear documentation and location of the fire related evidence in form of photographs, sketches and in written notes, placing and labeling the collected evidence in containers ready to be collected and preserved. However, it is important that the evidence should be packaged based on the policies and procedures of the laboratory, for instance, any indication of bloodstains, latent prints that demand for appropriate fire evidence preservation and collection methods. Fire investigators should also take into account that items of evidence must be collected using disposable tools and hand covers such as gloves to avoid cross-contamination. Finally, the collected and documented fire debris evidences must be stored and transported in different packages as per how they were collected from distinctive fire scenes. A sample number and description of each evidence, the date and place where it was collected from must be recorded in a consisted manner for easy tracing and presentation (United States Fire Administration 2013). It can be argued that exercising accurate fire evidence collection practices is critical to avoiding potential contamination and admissibility issues at the court proceedings. Generally, the process of fire debris investigation begins with sampling of the debris at a fire scene. Stauffer (2013, p.7) examines an incidence where a forensic investigator was given the task to analyze the fire scene. Since it was important for the investigator to establish the cause and source of the fire, he was first required to sample the probable evidence and make his own analysis within the lab. However, some significant changes occurred in the process of analyzing the fire scene whereby the different specialists in forensic science that were required to handle the situation made the crime scene to appear overcrowded by forensic experts. Therefore, the evidence was to be collected and presented by different specialists such as fire investigator, fire debris analyst and supervisors. This implies every step taken by each expert to examine the fire scene and collect evidences can provide results that have anomalies. Such conditions make the process of fire scene analysis increasingly difficult to rely on, and thus people handling the evidence need to be aware of this issue of anomaly (Stauffer 2013). Increased advances in arson detection tools and tactics make scientific evidence more important in various court proceedings. The authors added that for effective assembling of airtight case, it is crucial for fire investigators and forensic scientists to have resources that can enable them to make accurate chemical analysis as well as examination and interpretation of physical evidence collected from suspected arson scenes. Therefore, forensic analysis and interpretation of evidences from fire scenes have led to development of new techniques that help to identify the availability of ignitable liquid residues (ILRs) at most fire scenes. This shows that the field of investigation and forensic chemistry are relatively similar, and thus makes communication more effective during the evidence detection, gathering, documentation and presentation (Almirall & Furton 2004, p.272). Although the fire investigation community is aiming at enhancing its capabilities through development of a firm scientific foundation for conducting fire investigation, the current situations are successfully managed because of the shift in the establishment of fire origin and cause from the practical knowledge and not just relying on scientific research (National Fire Protection Association 2005, p.48). Conclusion The fundamental aspect of forensic fire investigation is to identify the really origin of the fire or seat of fire. Therefore, locating the origin of fire is important in establishing the cause of the fire. The analysis of fire scenes is an involving task that not only requires the fire investigator to establish the source of the fire but also understanding the factors that caused the fire to develop. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the tasks expected of the fire investigator fire, it can be noted that fire investigation is a more challenging discipline of forensic science. This is because the role of the investigator involves being a witness for successful collection and documentation of fire scene evidences for court proceedings. Effective firefighting tactics help to conduct a successful fire investigation of fire-related incidents. It is apparent that the fire investigation practice is more related to crime scenes examination because fire scenes have to be preserved for the appropriate evidences to be collected and analyzed. Fire scene sampling is a significant decision that fire investigators are required to make while undertaking their forensic analysis of fire scene evidence. It is the responsibility of firefighters to effectively strategize and ensure that all experts involved in the fire battle clearly understand the plan, the location of equipments used in firefighting and direction to which the fire is moving. Bibliography Almirall, R.J & Furton, G.K, 2004, Analysis and Interpretation of Fire Scene Evidence: Forensic Science Techniques, CRC Press, Boca Raton. DeHaan, J.D & Icove, D.J., 2008, Forensic Fire Scene Reconstruction, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall. DeHaan, J.D., 2006, Kirk’s Fire Investigation, 6th Edition, Prentice Hall. Faith, N., 2000, The Forensics of Fire, St Martin’s Press. Idaho Firewise, 2013, Fire Management Strategies and Tactics: How do Firefighters Battle the Flames? Retrieved October 29, 2013 from, Lilley, G.D., 2008, “Applied Science and Engineering in Fire Dynamics: Fire prevention and protection,” American Society of Safety Engineers, pp. 27-73. National Fire Protection Association, 2008, “Guide for Fire & Explosion Investigations, Fire Patterns,” NFPA, Quincy, MA. National Fire Protection Association 2005, “International Association of Arson Investigators: the user’s Manual for NFPA 921 Guide for fire and explosion investigations, 2nd ed,” Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury, Mass. The New Brunswick fire Service and Office of the Fire Marshal, 2012, “Fire fighter: Essentials of Fire Fighting, Physical Fitness and Well-Being of Fire Fighters,” retrieved October 29, 2013 from, Reno, J., Marcus, D., Leary, L.M & Samuels, E.J., 2000, “Fire and Arson Scene Evidence: A guide for Public Safety Personnel,” National Institute of Justice, retrieved October 29, 2013 from, Stauffer, E., 2013, “The Role of the Forensic Scientist in the New Millennium With the Example of Fire Debris Analysis, Young Forensic Scientists Forum,” retrieved October 28, 2013 from, Strutin, K., 2012, “Arson and the Science of Fire,” retrieved October 29, 2013 from, US Fire Administration, 2012, Basic Tools and Resources for Fire Investigators: A Handbook, Publisher-FEMA, p.10. United States Fire Administration, 2013, “Fire/Arson and Explosion Investigation: Processing a Fire Scene for Evidence,” Fire investigation Series, retrieved October 29, 2013 from, Read More