Big Brother is upon us:

George Orwell’s predictions are fast becoming reality. According to the latest studies, Britain has a staggering 4.2million closed circuit television cameras, one for every 14 people in the country, and 20 percent of cameras globally. It has been calculated that each person is caught on camera an average of 300 times daily. Use of spy cameras in modern-day Britain is now a chilling mirror image of Orwell's fictional world, created in the post-war Forties in a fourth-floor flat overlooking Canonbury Square in Islington, North London. On the wall outside his former residence - flat number 27B - where Orwell lived until his death in 1950, an historical plaque commemorates the anti-authoritarian author. And within 200 yards of the flat, there are 32 closed circuit television cameras, scanning every move.

Virtual fire investigation, a once absurd and ludicrous notion, is becoming fact as opposed to fiction. The days of examining and documenting a fire inspection/investigation via the use of digital photography (cameras and video) is becoming commonplace within the insurance industry, the most recent of which has been signing onto a live joint forensic analysis session, in which the non participatory entities/individuals can watch and listen to the live event. Attorneys and subrogation professionals can observe the live analysis from afar, there air conditioned offices. Commonplace practices of texting, e-mails, and phone calls between clients and the retained engineer/investigator is the norm during the course of the analysis (sound familiar).

Investigators/engineers currently are capable of providing their respective clients with virtual images of the fire loss location, including, but not limited to the systematic inspection/investigation. These images can easily be downloaded and forwarded via e-mail to the client/interested party for viewing before the investigator/engineer abandons the scene to the remediation contractors.

In its infancy, Google Earth was an astonishing accomplishment, as one could view satellite images of the loss location. Street View was the next logical step in the advancement towards virtual viewing of the loss location; often times, noteworthy discoveries were made, such as realtor signs posted at the location etc.

The latest development, as evidenced by the recent car bombing attempt in New York is more on the lines of George Orwell’s prediction, where surveillance cameras are able to record the movement of various individuals who seem to be walking haphazardly, and seemingly unnoticed along the sidewalk. These same types of cameras are located throughout the community where we, as individuals call home. Recently I watched a video of and individual set a fire in a ceiling of a convince store. Obviously, this individual was educated quickly about the use of surveillance cameras.


It has become commonplace within the law enforcement community to view video’s of fires in their incipient stages as a consequence of the proliferation of cameras. As an example, most convenience stores are equipped with cameras as a means of limiting liability potential.

These cameras have become a useful as a tool for the average Fire investigator/engineer.