Fire Cause Determination Essay

Difference Between Origin and Fire Cause Determination. Today in this paper I am going to write about the major differences between the origin of a fire or explosion, and the cause and determination of a fire. I will first separate the two subjects, then give a few examples of clear differences between them, give a partial scenario, and a conclusion to hopefully give a clear meaning to both terms. Now without further due, I would like to present my thoughts and findings about determining the fire’s origin. Many times, Fire investigators will refer to a fire’s origin when discussing recent fire activity. The fire’s area of origin refers to the building, home, room, or a wide-variety of areas that has contained the fires true location within.

Recognizing a problem. By recognizing that a fire has occurred and that we don’t know the point of origin, you have recognized the need for an investigation. 2. Defining what the problem is. The problem is that we don’t know the origin of the fire. 3. Collect data about the problem. By further investigation and interviewing, you can collect data about the pre-fire conditions, witness statements, fire crew statements, and post-fire conditions. 4. Analyze and experiment with the data. Look at the information you have collected from using arc mapping, sketches, timeline sequencing, pattern analysis, and flame analysis. 5. Develop your hypothesis. Develop initial origin hypothesis, working origin hypothesis, and the alternate hypothesis. 6. Test your

This stage can come before or after you have found point of origin. I will give an example of how these scenarios could play out when the origin is found first and the cause is found second, and vice versa. One morning you arrive at the scene of a gas explosion. There were several witnesses that had smelled the gas earlier and then reported it to the fire department. Shortly after the reported smell, the gas was ignited but we don’t know how or why. We continue to investigate until we find the point of origin behind a kitchen stove. I then discover the fire’s cause was from a broken gas line behind the stove that was ignited by a hand-held kitchen