Fire Investigations and Urgent Need for the Community to Engage in Education of Fire Prevention - Case Study Example

Running head: FIRE INVESTIGATIONS Name Course University December 24, 2010 Fire investigations Fire can spread from item to item by radiation from flames or by radiation from the developing hot smoke layer. To create and sustain a fire three factors must be present. The three factors are known as the fire triangle. The fire triangle consists of oxygen, a fuel source and heat. In most cases the fuel must be above 16%, the fuel may be any flammable substance, the heat source needs only to match the ignition temperature of the fuel. For rapidly spread fire, there may be use of accelerants which add to the fuel load such as kerosene, gasoline or alcohol. It should be noted that the existence of such accelerants and other flammable fuels at the origin or location of fire such as wood and grass, spreads the fire even more. The heat from a fire can affect a structure in the case of a floor which starts to sag, when it starts to expand hence pulling in the bulding’s frame and hence the columns of the house. A fire can be accidental such as faulty gas or unintentional tipping of a candle or an arson fire such intentional tipping of a candle with the intent to cause and spread fire. Out of a fire there results investigation to determine the cause and origin of the fire, hence the fire investigation. It is necessary to investigate origin and cause of that fire since it represents great threat not only to the well being of individuals, but also, to the welfare and security of there community as a whole. With the data it will be better to determined what the problem areas are and how to deal with them. This data helps to effectively allocate the money in budgets for education and measures in catering to fire. This brings to solutions and engineering designs to prevent previous fires. These include reducing wood construction, combustible roofing materials, and crowded building conditions. Fire investigators also come in as those who undertake the cause and origin of the fire. During the investigation, three factors will be taken into consideration, the source of ignition or heat which may be an electrical or smoking material, I.INTRODUCTION The fire occurred on 13th December 2009 at 2.00 p.m on Hannington Road which provides residential housing. The fire service, i.e the Hannington Fire Brigade Service, a report of a fire at that prescribed addresses. The report was received by a several phone calls from residents of Asili Block, the neighbours of the occupant whose apartment had caught on fire. The immediate commanding officer of Hannington Fired Service responded to the scene. The weather at the time of the alarm was relatively hot at 30 degrees Celsius with a clear blue sky, however it was relatively windy. On that same day the State Fire Investigation Unit received notification of this fire from the Hannington Fire Service. Officer Withers responded to the scene on that same day and initiated an investigation into the origin and cause of the incident. She was assisted in this investigation by a junior colleagues, Officer Charles and I, Officer Rachael. As a result of this investigation, the cause of the fire was ruled accidental. The case has hence been closed at this time. II. FINDINGS A. BUILDING INFORMATION The site of the fire was a stone residential building with wooden floors and asbestos roofing which had five floors with a flight of one central flight of stairs, with the third floor being destroyed by the fire The property was own by Mr. Guraj, owner of Guraj Oil Enterprises. He was interviewed by Officer Charles on 14th December. The property was insured by Jubilee Trust Insurance firm for an amount of 1million dollars. There were twenty tenants on the property. There had been renovations to the property one week to the fire. These consisted of repainting the apartment building. The intention of the renovation was to improve appearance and state of the building. The work was being done by, Mr.Olich, a friend of the owner. B. VICTIM INFORMATION Victim number one, Mrs. Beatrice was injured as a result of this fire. She was found in apartment B, the origin of the fire, of which she was the tenant of the house, by a rescuer. Her condition at the time of the discovery was not critical, she suffered some minor burns to the hands, likewise to the second victim, her neighbour and tenant of apartment C, Mrs. Wilberforce and the other two victims were children aged 10years and 14years, who had however inhaled a lot of smoke as compared to the adult victims. They were all found in apartment B in the bathroom and all were taken to Marter Hospital. C. WITNESS STATEMENTS As the investigators, we conducted several interviews with the following witness(s). The last person to be on the premises prior to the fire was Alice, a 16year old girl, a brother to the two children who got admitted at the hospital due to the fire. Mr. Robert, another witness was among the neighbours who called up the fire brigade service, who is occupant of apartment A, who together with apartments B and C, share the same floor. He had heard shouts and screams of distress which clearly indicated that the occupants were reacting to the discovery of fire and he noticed the strong smell of smoke once outside the door and decided to call up the fire brigade service after the first attempts to break open the door did not bear any fruits. The other witness whose record was accounted for was police officer Walton the following day after the fire, who was the first police officer at the scene who became aware of the fire as a result of unrest from citizens alerts during a patrol as the fire began. She noticed a thick cloud of smoke emanating from the third floor in one of the apartments, she cited the apartment as apartment B, since she had been carrying out investigations due to allegations of theft of painting materials by the workman, Mr.Olich of which she was meant to carry out a physical investigation of all rooms after receiving a warrant. She noted that the fire brigade service were on the scene just seconds later and took control of the scene. The first fire fighter to enter the fire scene who gave his account was Mr.Stevens, on the same day of the fire. He had been ordered into the scene by Commander. The fire investigator noted that the black smoke emanating from the apartment could possibly be as a result of a petroleum product and the fire’s fast spread in the room when they had taken less than five minutes to respond to the first call of the fire. He headed to the third floor to find an elderly man trying to break open the door of the origin of fire, this actually shocked him as no other people came to aid him, with clear evidence of thickened black smoke. With an axe the door was forced open to reveal lots of smoke and the sudden emerging of two women and two young children in their arms in towels. he however noted that that was the first incident of fire in that building they had been called up to take care of, but noted that many cases of fire related causes in the area had been rampant during the time with children being the main cause of such fires. D. FIRE SCENE EXAMINATION Internal examination was conducted beginning in areas of least damage toward areas of heaviest damage. This process revealed that the most substantial area of fire damage was located in the bedroom of apartment B with the clear evidence of burnt pieces of furniture. Examination of the gross fire damage pattern on the scene revealed that all the damage proceeded from this area(s) in a “V” shaped pattern, which is the characteristic indicator of a fire’s point of origin. The bedroom was fueled by a match box, which was accelerated by the presence of turpentine which was in a plastic container located under one of the three beds. This solved the case of the theft of the painting products. It was noted however that there was a smoke alarm in every room which had no batteries, whose responsibility lay with the tenant of each house. The mere existence of empty extinguishers and smoke detectors in the premises do not serve the need of the safety. III. CONCLUSION Based upon the information developed through the investigation, it is my opinion and that of the fire investigation unit, that the origin(s) of this fire was the bedroom and that the cause was accidental. It is further concluded that the building was not secured at the time of the fire in terms of operational fire safety devices since the operation of the fire protection system failed to perform as it was designed. IV. RECOMMENDATIONS I respectfully recommend that this case remain pending with urgent need for the community around to engage in education of fire prevention to children in the vicinity especially during holidays and frequent checkups of the buildings to suit the standards of the tenants and maintenance buildings maintenance regulations. Reference: Niamh Nic Daéid, 2004 ,Fire investigation, CRC Press. Read More