|
FROM OUR FIRE INVESTIGATION CASEBOOK
- The owner of this house was on the verge of being arrested for arson when we began our investigation. In the children's bedroom, we found a nail driven through the exterior siding that had pierced an electric wire. Cause of fire: Short circuit and ignition of surrounding combustibles.
- This tractor-trailer was transporting new luxury cars when the driver noticed smoke in his rear view mirror. Within minutes, the truck and trailer were engulfed in flames. We traced the fire to an inside rear tracking wheel, where debris from a blowout the day before had wound around the axel and caused a spark. Note: "V" pattern emanates from point of origin.
- The manufacturer of this dryer was ready to assume culpability for this dryer fire. We found no product defects during our disassembly, and collected samples of the burned materials from the drum to send to our lab for analysis. Cause of fire: Combustion of unsaturated vegetable oil in fabric.
- The morning after the driver shut the door on this car and went to bed, he discovered that a fire had burned the interior. We were called in after subrogation proceedings began, and discovered the remains of a tobacco pipe in the ashtray. Cause of fire: Smoking carelessness.
- There was no apparent reason for a fire to start in this spotlessly clean house until a close inspection of the furnace revealed that it had been situated too close to a structural beam, which over the years, degraded from proximity to a heat source: Cause of fire: Pyrolysis.
- When the body of a man was discovered in this brand new car, a defective carburetor was initially suspected. Our fire investigation, however, revealed multiple points of origin. Graphics were designed to make comprehension easy for a jury, and the jury agreed with us that the case should be turned over to the D.A. Cause of fire: Arson.
|
|
