Your Role in Fire Investigations

By ROGER KRUPP

We’ve all experienced it in our own communities: Once a fire is out, everyone wants to know what happened and caused the fire. If the fire resulted in fatalities or injuries or was a large property loss, there will be a heighten level of interest by relatives of victims, property owners, and the community wanting to know what happened and caused the fire.

• Fire Investigation Basics
• How NOT to Investigate Fires
• Firefighting and Preserving the Fire Scene: Finding the Balance

It will be the responsibility of your department’s fire investigator (or a designee) to complete a competent investigation to determine the origin and cause of the fire you worked hard to suppress. For the fire investigator to complete a thorough and competent fire investigation, he will need to consider the fire officer and firefighters’ scene observations and suppression activities. This article will explore your role and responsibilities as part of the fire investigation team and process.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) provides guidance in NFPA 1001, Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications (2019), for the Fire Officer (FO) I and II.

Each of the following sections will prepare you for what to expect should you have to testify in a criminal or civil court regarding your observations and activities on a fire scene.

Fire Officer (FO) I and II

FO I-4.5 Inspection and Investigation. This duty involves … performing a fire investigation to determine area of origin and preliminary cause, securing the incident scene, and preserving evidence….1

FO II-5.5 Inspection and Investigation. This duty involves conducting fire investigations to determine origin and preliminary cause, according to the following job performance requirements.

FO II-5.5.1. Determine the area of origin and preliminary cause of a fire, given a fire scene, photographs, diagrams, pertinent data, and sketches, to determine if arson is suspected so that law enforcement action is taken.

(A) Requisite Knowledge. Indications of arson, common causes of fire, methods to preserve and protect the general area of origin, basic origin and cause determination, fire growth and development, and documentation of preliminary fire investigative procedures.

(B) Requisite Skills. The ability to investigate a fire scene and identify the general area of origin, implement procedures to preserve and protect potential sources of ignition within that general area of origin, and communicate.1

As a fire officer, unless trained in conducting a fire investigation, your primary duty will be to ensure the scene is secured, protecting and preserving evidence of fire cause. Your observations will be relied on for documenting the evidence and the steps you completed to preserve evidence of fire cause.

Fire Fighter (FF) I and II

FF I-4.3.13. Overhaul a fire scene, given PPE, an attack line, hand tools, a flashlight, and an assignment, so that … fire cause evidence is preserved, and the fire is extinguished.

(A) Requisite Knowledge. Types of fire attack lines and water application devices most effective for overhaul, water application methods for extinguishment that limit water damage, types of tools and methods used to expose hidden fire, dangers associated with overhaul, obvious signs of area of origin or signs of arson, and reasons for protection of fire scene.

(B) Requisite Skills. The ability to deploy and operate an attack line; remove flooring, ceiling, and wall components to expose void spaces without compromising structural integrity; apply water for maximum effectiveness; expose and extinguish hidden fires in walls, ceilings, and subfloor spaces; recognize and preserve obvious signs of area of origin and arson; and evaluate for complete extinguishment.2

FF II-5.3.4*. Protect evidence of fire cause and origin, given a flashlight and overhaul tools, so that the evidence is noted and protected from further disturbance until investigators can arrive on the scene.

(A) Requisite Knowledge. Methods to assess origin and cause; types of evidence; means to protect various types of evidence; the role and relationship of Fire Fighter IIs, criminal investigators, and insurance investigators in fire investigations; and the effects and problems associated with removing property or evidence from the scene.

(B) Requisite Skills. The ability to locate the fire’s origin area, recognize possible causes, and protect the evidence.2

On the Fire Scene

Your role as firefighters will encompass your observations and your suppression activities involving forcible entry, ventilation, overhaul, and any scene preservation you completed—the steps you take to preserve the scene as much as possible for the fire investigator. Consider the entire fire scene as evidence of the fire’s origin and cause.

For the fire officer and firefighter, it will be important to document your observations and fireground activities when you return to quarters—while it is fresh in your mind. Write down notes of what you observed and what activities you completed on the fireground, and present them to the fire investigator. The investigator will make these notes part of his investigation report and file. Should you need to provide testimony later, these notes will help refresh your memory.

Exterior Observations

When you share your observations with the fire investigator, take the following observations into account:

• Were there obstructions preventing easy access to the scene, fire department connections, or hydrants? What were those obstructions?
• Describe any vehicles you may have seen driving away quickly when you arrived on the scene.
• If there is a serial arsonist in your jurisdiction: Have you recognized anyone at the fire scenes? If so, document the other fires at which you observed this individual and provide a description of his appearance.
• Document any unusual comments from people in the crowd. Pay attention to whether the comments relate to the fire. If someone approaches to give you information, ask the police to interview that person.
• Prior to entry and putting on self-contained breathing apparatus, did you notice any unusual odors, such as gasoline, natural gas, or propane?
• Was a burglar alarm sounding before you made entry? Did one sound after you entered?
• Document the condition of the doors on entry. Were doors unlocked and open when you arrived? If you forced entry to any doors, document which doors you forced open and if you tried them before prying.
• Document the condition of any windows. Were they closed, open, or broken? If you broke windows for ventilation, were the screens in place? Which windows did you ventilate? Document if any windows had smoke staining or if the glass was clear.
• Were utilities already disconnected, gas meters removed, gas lines shut off, or electric meters already pulled?

Interior Observations

• If you have responded to other fires at a property, document any similarities the latest fire had to previous fires.
• On entry, did you hear smoke alarms? If possible, document the locations of the alarms you heard. Take steps to preserve any items you found and protect them from being moved or damaged.
• On entry, did you find openings in the floors, walls, or ceilings? If so, document their locations.
• What colors were the smoke and flames? Any unusual colors will help the investigator determine whether chemicals were involved in the fire.
  • How did the fire behave when water was applied?
  • Document the location of the visible fire. If flashover has not occurred, where was the fire burning? Was the fire burning upward and outward from a couch or other item or was the fire burning from the floor level upward and outward?
• Were there multiple areas of unrelated fires—i.e., a fire in a first-floor living room and a fire in a second-floor bedroom on the opposite side of the home from the living room?
• Did you feel the home was lacking content items (i.e., multiple kids reported to be living in the home but no toys found, rooms missing normal furnishings, closets and cabinets lacking normal content items)?
• Document any observations of the location of candles, ashtrays, matches, lighters, or containers with a combustible or flammable liquid such as gasoline. Take steps to preserve these items where found and protect them from being moved or damaged.
• Document your observations about anything unusual pertaining to items such as disconnected gas dryers and stoves or unplugged electronics.
• Document anything you felt was unusual based on your experiences.

Best Practices

Officers and firefighters use their actions on the fireground to provide valuable information to the fire investigator. The following items are best practices for documentation of your actions on the fire scene. These guidelines will aid in the fire investigation process:

• If the fire involves patient care, provide details of those who suffered an injury and the type and extent of any injuries.
• If you’re assigned to disconnect the power, only turn off the main circuit breaker or remove the main fuse. Document whether the main circuit breaker or fuse was already off. Do not manipulate or turn off individual circuit breakers or remove fuses. This aids the fire investigator in the analysis of the electrical system.
• If the main circuit breaker or fuse is turned off, the electrical items in the building should not be unplugged. If you unplug an item, document the item and note where it was plugged in.
• During suppression, use the nozzle per your department policy. If there is no policy, use a combination nozzle solid/fog pattern. Using the combination nozzle on the straight stream setting or a partial fog pattern will minimize evidence destruction.
• Because the fire investigator uses burn pattern analysis on contents in the room, ceiling, wall, and floor coverings all help to determine the fire’s origin. By conducting a systematic overhaul to minimize the destruction of burn patterns by the removal of contents, ceiling, wall, and floor coverings will aid the investigator in analyzing burn patterns. With the increased availability of thermal imaging cameras (TICs), overhaul crews should be able to pinpoint hot spot areas where they can open ceiling or wall coverings with smaller observation holes to minimize the destruction of the burn patterns within the room. This allows for strategic removal of wall and ceiling coverings instead of removal of all wall and ceiling coverings.
• During overhaul, it is best practice to leave the content items in the room instead of throwing them out a window. This allows the fire investigator to analyze the burn patterns within the room, which would help in identifying an area of origin. Practical content items should remain in the room, in their original locations. If content items were removed, document their original locations in your notes.
• Unnecessary removal of contents, ceiling, wall, and floor coverings prohibits the fire investigator from analyzing the fire patterns within the room of origin.
• Avoid using gasoline-powered tools inside the building. This may create a cross contamination of an ignitable liquid from the tool entering the fire scene. If someone did use a gasoline-powered tool inside the building, document where the tool was used.
• If you remove victims for treatment and lifesaving efforts, document their injuries and where they were removed from. All those who entered the room where the fire victim was located need to be identified, and the activities they completed in the room need to be documented.
• Limit access to any rooms with obviously deceased victims.
• It is best to leave appliances plugged in. Do not manipulate the controls. This includes refrigerators, stoves, dehumidifiers, TVs, and entertainment centers. It also includes kitchen items such as toasters and coffee makers. If items are unplugged or controls are manipulated, document what the manipulation was, and document the condition in which each item was originally found. If items are unplugged, document what outlet or power strip they were unplugged from and the location within the outlet or power strip the item was unplugged from.
• In cases of kitchen fires, leave cabinetry in place and do not manipulate the control knobs on stoves or ovens.
• To the extent possible, it is best to leave the fire scene as you found it when you arrived. If items are moved, document where in the building the items were located before they were removed and where each item was moved to.

As fire officers and firefighters, our main responsibility is the preservation of life and property. Our fire suppression actions are the priority. They are the ways we prevent loss of life and property. After a fire, your documented observations and activities will inform all other interested parties of the condition of the fire scene at the time of the fire. They will make it easier for the fire investigator to complete a thorough and competent fire investigation. You will have valuable information for the fire investigator. You are an important participant in the fire investigation process.

ENDNOTES

1. NFPA 1021, Standard for Fire Officer Professional Qualifications, National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA (2020).

2. NFPA 1001, Standard for Fire Officer Professional Qualifications, National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA (2019).

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ROGER KRUPP is deputy chief of the Clarendon Hills (IL) Fire Department, where he has been a member for more than 40 years. He has spent 20 years as a team manager for a special investigations unit with State Farm. He is a past president of the International Association of Arson Investigators, where he is director of governmental relations. Krupp is board director of the Pro Board and a principal member on NFPA 1033’s technical committee. He graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a bachelor of science in fire safety engineering/fire investigation and police administration. He received a master of science in management and organizational behavior from Benedictine University.