Fire Origin & Cause (2nd Edition)
Chapter 1 - Responsibilities & Observations of the Emergency Responder
Test Review

• Investigator refers to a person initially responsible for the determination of the origin and cause of the fire as well as the individual whose livelihood and sole responsibility is fire investigation.
• Firefighters must note everything that could point to origin and cause of the fire.
• Overhauled materials are often piled outside the structure.
• Assistance outside the fire department include:  law enforcement, insurance companies, private corporations, and governmental agencies.
• Determining fire cause requires cooperation of firefighters, company officer, investigator, and fire chief.
• The fire chief has legal responsibility in most jurisdictions for determining fire cause.
• Questions first-arriving firefighters should ask include:  is contents of room ransacked/unusually bare?, are doors/windows locked or unlocked?, is there unusual fire behavior?, and are vehicles/people present?.
• The first-arriving company officer is usually responsible for completing the fire report and initial investigation.
• Fallacies about investigation include:  "intentional fire are hardest to detect", "you have to see them light the match", "evidence was destroyed by the fire", and investigation is not our job".
• Fire cause is important for professional, legal, statistical, and analytical purposes.
• Fire departments should have guidelines that establish criteria for calling a fire investigator.
• Fire marshals, inspectors, or fire prevention members are usually responsible for checking fire reports and usually have the responsibility for carrying fire cause investigations beyond the company level.
• Members of fire investigation/arson squads may or may not have police powers, depending on local laws.
• The responsibility in some localities lies with police, state fire marshal, or other state agency.
• The fire chief has legal and moral responsibility for ensuring a preliminary fire cause is determined.
• Many rural fire departments depend on outside agencies for fire investigation, such as county sheriff, state police, state fire marshal officials, or insurance company investigators.
• Fire departments can legally cooperate with an insurance company's investigation, NOT direct it.
• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms (BATF) has established national response teams throughout the US, and each team is able to respond anywhere in the US within 24 hours.
• The BATF responds, upon request, to major fires, explosions, or incidents involving any loss of life or injury.
• BATF resources include:  forensic accounting, agent interview assistance, and access to US attorneys.

• An incendiary device is any contrivance designed and used to start a fire.
• After a fire, the officer in charge interviews occupants, owners, and witnesses.
• Each firefighter should write a chronological account of important circumstances personally noticed after the fire.
• Delay thorough salvage and overhaul until area of origin and cause have been determined.
• Firefighters should never throw debris outside into a pile (buries evidence).
• Firefighters and officers should not attempt to interrogate potential arson suspects, call trained investigator instead.
• A sufficient reply to fire cause is "The fire is under investigation."
• Public statements regarding fire cause should only be made after the investigator and ranking fire officer have agreed to its accuracy and validity.
• Appendix B "Federal Constitutional Search & Seizure Issues in Fire Scene Investigations", cites a court case describing the need to control premises.
• The fire department has authority to bar access to any building during fire fighting operations and for a resonable length of time after suppression has terminated.
• Michigan vs Tyler is a court case that illustrates the need to observe proper search and seizure techniques.
• Fire department authority ends when the last fire department members has left the scene, with further visits requiring a search warrant or owner's written permission to enter.
• A recorded log of anyone entering/leaving a structure should be kept with time of entry, time of departure, and description of any items taken.
• When deciding where to establish boundaries, factors such as area needed by personnel to work, degree of hazard presented by elements, need to preserve evidence, and general geography, must be determined by the officer in charge.
• Cordoned areas should be monitored by police department.
• Responsibilities of determining fire cause are spread among the responding firefighters, the company officer, investigator, and fire chief.