Fire/Arson Investigations : Fire/Arson Investigations
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Re: Exploding aerosol cans spreading fires
Posted by: dahebert (IP Logged)
Date: December 21, 2006 10:10AM
Dr. Hurst,
I have once gone against an "expert" who wrote in his report that a fire started from sunlight refracting off of a windshield and causing a bottle of hand lotion to spontaneously combust while in the pocket of a jacket draped over the back seat of the car. Some nimrod? Nah, he has a PhD.
Conditions? Cloudy....below freezing....oh yeah, and in a Wal Mart parking lot, so the owner was caught on video tape setting the fire. Point? There are a lot of prostitutes out there.
Do cigarettes cause fires? Yes. Do they cause as many fires as are attributed to them? In my opinion, absolutely not. If you have ever tried to set a cigarette fire....and I'm sure you have....it is extremely difficult, although possible.
On my original post, the first words I typed are “Sure it’s Possible”. My point is that there are many “less than honorable” Experts that I foresee using the flying aerosol can as the next great “catch all” defense. Kind of like cigarette fires. Anyway, I stand by what I said in the first post. It is our responsibility as investigators on the criminal side to properly do our jobs and we can overcome the latest “fad defense”.
I have once gone against an "expert" who wrote in his report that a fire started from sunlight refracting off of a windshield and causing a bottle of hand lotion to spontaneously combust while in the pocket of a jacket draped over the back seat of the car. Some nimrod? Nah, he has a PhD.
Conditions? Cloudy....below freezing....oh yeah, and in a Wal Mart parking lot, so the owner was caught on video tape setting the fire. Point? There are a lot of prostitutes out there.
Do cigarettes cause fires? Yes. Do they cause as many fires as are attributed to them? In my opinion, absolutely not. If you have ever tried to set a cigarette fire....and I'm sure you have....it is extremely difficult, although possible.
On my original post, the first words I typed are “Sure it’s Possible”. My point is that there are many “less than honorable” Experts that I foresee using the flying aerosol can as the next great “catch all” defense. Kind of like cigarette fires. Anyway, I stand by what I said in the first post. It is our responsibility as investigators on the criminal side to properly do our jobs and we can overcome the latest “fad defense”.
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