Investigation

keith@parkerfireservices.com (415) 328-4778

Our Investigation Philosophy Sets Us Apart:

We always stay true to the science of forensic fire investigation. That involves much more than “using best practices” or “conforming to the scientific method”.  The use and adherence to proven science and application of critical thinking is the key to successful investigations.  We diligently harvest all available data, identify and validate key foundational facts to each hypothesis so they can be tested individually, without an end in mind. Determining the origin to the smallest possible area is the first crucial step that must occur prior to seeking possible causes. Only when the origin area is determined should the possible ignition sources be sought out and identified.   Potential ignition sources are evaluated to determine if one or more may be responsible for a fire, and to identify possible ignition sources that can be eliminated. Hypotheses are tested, reviewed and re-tested using our systematic process. For each hypothesis supported by the data, we determine what must be true for the hypothesis to be correct. We then use all the data to determine if all the issues identified that must be true are supported, if not the hypothesis is rejected outright or revised and the testing process starts from the beginning. We advise clients when the facts are inadequate to make a scientific determination and a cause is undetermined. We also advise when we find the available data to all parties makes the origin and or cause undeterminable. By staying true to the science and methodologies we strive to provide the greatest amount of accurate information to our clients.   

First things First:

Gathering data at the soonest possible moment is critical!  Initiating an investigation is an expensive decision but delay can be far more costly. From the moment a fire starts, data on where it started, what ignited it and why, begins to deteriorate.   Step one is to capture physical and observed data before it is damaged, faded or destroyed.  Early data gathering and preliminary investigation provides clients critical information needed to determine if they will continue the investigation for possible damage recovery or protection from exposure to future claims.   We have conducted dozens of initial investigations where clients thought there was possible interest only to find none existed. Without an early initial investigation, pursuing or defending claims months or years later is far more difficult.

How we Investigate:

We develop an investigation plan to meet the needs of the client and the demands of the investigation. Is there is a need for experts, to help with interviews, scene processing, re-creation, documentation, evidence collection, retention and storage?  Specialty documentation of a scene is often necessary such as drone imagery, light dictation and ranging (LIDAR) and photogrammetry. There is often a need to bring in experts, such as arborists, foresters and electrical or mechanical engineers. Complex fire investigation requires a team approach from all the discipline members. Protocols need to be established among all the interested parties and followed. Scene access, scheduling, noticing additional interests, evidence collection, storage and testing often play a major roll in developing and executing an investigation plan.  As investigations proceed, facts are uncovered, and obstacles encountered requiring changes to the plan; we constantly reevaluate and make adjustments as conditions warrant.  

The Process:

Determining the origin with certainty is the first goal of an investigation.  Only after the origin is determined can the search for a cause begin. Some in the investigation world assert that the origin and cause search can occur simultaneously, or that locating possible causes prior to origin determination is acceptable.  This is the most common violation of the scientific method in the industry today, We refer to this practice as “a cause in search of an origin”. Violating the scientific method or systematic process as defined in National Fire Protection Association 2017, 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigators (NFPA 921) invites expectation and or conformation bias that likely lead to inaccurate findings or impeaching the investigation, even if the cause determination is correct.

NFPA 1033 Standard for Professional Qualifications for Fire Investigators, 2014 Edition, requires basic up-to-date knowledge in 16 topics. We believe that in depth knowledge of the 16 topics, along with many others, is vital in our mission to provide clients with complete and accurate information. Fires seldom fit into a singular category such as structure, vehicle or wildland; rather they start in one and transition to or involve another.  Vegetation to structure or is it structure to vegetation, was utility equipment, vehicles or heavy equipment involved? To answer these questions, the Investigator must have a diverse skill set and be up to date in all of these areas. When we reach the limit of our expertise, PFSC has numerous subject matter experts to call on to advise and assess specific areas of interest. Following the origin and cause determination, clients often request that we investigate responsibility for the fire and factors resulting in the level of damage, injury and fatalities. As investigators we work to determine the act, error or omission that brought the ignition source to the material first ignited. This is done by determining all the causal factors in the chain of events bringing the ignition source in contact with the material first ignited.  Additional factors such as detection, notification, fire and smoke spread, along with occupant egress may be as or more important than the cause for many fire claims. When probable (50+% certainty) origin and cause can not be identified, the specific reasons are critical when defending claims without factual merit.

We deliver findings based on the client’s request:

• Verbal updates and reports (including presentations)
• Written summaries of investigation 
• Written or presentation format Reporting Opinions of Scientific or Technical Experts (ASTM E-620)

Wildland Fire Investigation: 

Vegetation or wildland fire investigation is a forensic fire science that must conform to the same principals of any fire investigation.  To successfully investigate vegetation fires, one must clearly understand wildland fire behavior, fire suppression operations and investigative techniques.   As a veteran of 33 fire seasons including investigation, fire suppression, control burning, instructing wildland fire investigation, fire behavior and suppression, Keith has extensive experience, training and education in all aspects of vegetation fires.  Understanding what affects fire behavior, fire pattern indicator creation under conditions present at the time of the fire, accurately interpreting clusters of fire pattern indicators and validating them as representing the original advancing, backing and lateral fire spread direction, are some of the required skills and knowledge an investigator must have to accurately investigate vegetation fires. 

We always start by assessing the big picture:

Information on the internet has become vital for initiating investigations. Fire watch cameras, web cams, social media posts and fire agency posts commonly provide images of fires in their early stages. Weather conditions, detailed maps and aerial and street level imagery is available, and satellite fire detection systems are improving all the time. When arriving for the scene inspection it is critical to cast a very wide net and never make assumptions, even if other investigations have already determined the greater area of origin. Nearly everyone over the age of ten has a phone that can capture photographs and video that is time stamped, and fire is usually of interest, but you have work to find it.  Never rush, gather and document all the data available prior to disturbing scene. This is critical in accounting for public agency investigation activities and possible alterations made between the time of the fire, fire suppression, the end of the public agency investigation and the initial scene inspection of private investigators. Vegetation fires occurring during moderate to high burning conditions tend to leave burn pattern indicators, which from a scene inspection can provide the bulk of the data needed to make a finding of the origin and cause.  When vegetation fires burn under extreme or unique conditions determining the initial advancing run, its lateral and backing transition zones, subsequent fire flow directionality, determination of the origin and cause usually requires exhaustive detailed data development, evaluation and the even more difficult task of validation. We have had extensive investigation experience for complex major and mega fires occurring under extreme or unique conditions:

• McCabe Fire, Two Separate Fires, Sonoma County 2013
• El Portal Fire, Maraposa County 2014
• Valley Fire, Lake County 2015
• Tobin Fire, Plumas County 2016
• Rock Fire, Lake County 2016
• Helena Fire, Trinity County 2017
• October 2017 North Bay Fires in Napa and Sonoma Counties: Tubbs, Atlas Peak, Nuns, Hwy 37, Norrbom, Partrick, Pocket, Pythian and Adobe
• 34 Complex, Woodward County OK.  2018, 
• River and Ranch Fires, Mendocino County 2018
• Camp Fire, Butte County 2018
• McKinley Fire, Matanuska-Susitna Borough AK. 2019

The developed science and best practice methodology of wildland fire investigation is not uniform throughout the greater fire investigation industry.  Conflicts between the National Wildfire Coordination Group’s 2016 Guide to Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination (PMS 412) and the NFPA 921 are significant.  Application of the process of elimination, the standard for selecting final hypothesis, use of law enforcement investigative techniques in a forensic science discipline, and the use of wildland fire investigators “opinion” to discard reasonable hypothesis not rejected by the data, all create a dilemma for investigators.  Few of the fire pattern indicators have been validated by scientific experimentation, although anecdotal evidence supporting them is very strong under moderate to high burning conditions. Studies on the effects of burning conditions relative to the final visible patterns are nonexistent. These conflicts and absence of direct subject studies require wildland fire investigators to have extensive knowledge not only of forensic fire investigation in general, but also all aspects of wildfire behavior, suppression and investigation.  Without this extensive level of knowledge and understanding, accurate determinations and opinions are not possible. 

Structure Fire Investigation:

The NFPA 921 has evolved into a quality scientific guide.  Research on fire dynamics of every aspect of structural fire is available.  With these comprehensive resources available the key to structural fire investigation is doing the dirty work, perseverance, attention to detail, proper methodology and staying true to the science.  

Fire pattern analysis:

The level of understanding how fire dynamics create fire movement patterns, difference between initial fire flow patterns and secondary patterns resulting from fuel packages, ventilation effects and fire suppression activities will all determine the success of the origin investigation.  When nothing is left post fire, and it is obvious that an origin determination is not possible, the investigator must also recognize when the fire damage or consumption is so great that patterns are unreliable making accurate origin determination not possible using fire patterns. Data from eye witnesses, photos and security cameras may allow for an accurate origin determination in these circumstances. Unsupported or inaccurate origin determination results in equally inaccurate cause determination.  

Cause determination:

After an origin is determined with certainty, the search for a cause begins.  This process is a straightforward systematic process. Identify each possible heat or ignition source, determine competency for each source and determine which sources can be ruled out.  Determining a “Probable Cause” requires that only a single cause can’t be disproven.  

PFSC Successes:

Over the past ten years PFSC has investigated over 100 structure fires from small maintenance shops, single and multifamily dwellings, to large multi-use commercial structures.  We did not always find a definitive origin area or cause, but we did provide maximum accurate information to our clients, and to us that is success. Many investigations provided defined origin areas and probable cause, but when that was not possible, we provided the data why the origin and or cause is undetermined.  A finding of undeterminable is appropriate when the classification is undetermined, and no indication exists that there is potential for additional data to become available at a later date that could assist in making a determination. 

Complex structure fire investigations conducted:

• Seaview Village Apartments, (multiple units) Seaside, Ca. 2015
• Fortuna Main Street Fire, (entire block) 2015
• Delta Pines Apartments, (multiple buildings) Antioch, CA, 2015
• Ghost Ship Warehouse, (multiple fatalities) Oakland, Ca 2016

Miscellaneous Fires Investigation:

What is a “miscellaneous fire”?  Not a structure or contained compartment fire, not a vegetation fire regulated by fuel weather and topography, not a specialty fire such as equipment, motor vehicle or marine vessel, but all others.  Most commonly they are outdoor areas where fire spread is regulated by the fuel, whether (primarily wind) and fire intensity. Junk yards, outdoor storage, lumber yards, hay bales are some examples of “miscellaneous fires”.  

Miscellaneous fires present a challenge to the investigator in that there no specific guides to investigating this class of fires.  This is another example where training, education and experience must be wide ranging, extensive and current. Development of an investigation plan early in the process is critical.  The first determination is “what are we dealing with?” Is this a lumber yard fire that spread to the wildland, or a wildland fire that spread to a lumber yard? Because of the lack of rules, so to speak, the urge to cut corners and take short cuts with the science in these situations is significant.  Staying within the lane of science and applying proper critical thinking to the data analysis may become more difficult, however it is even more critical in these situations.