Respectfully:

Yes taking the evidence from the scene may be warranted but in doing so one may be intentionally precluding the return of the item to the scene for all parties to perform a Fire Scene Reconstruction as identified in Chapters 3,6,7,8,10,16,17,18,26, etc.

There is also ample case law on Spoliation of evidence, depending upon the jurisdiction. This is NOT on the fire investigation community, rather this is a LEGAL question that Stuart or any other Attorney should be answering and giving advice to.

Without legal advice on this, Follow ASTM and NFPA 921 or face more than Spoliation issues. There has been a lot of discussion lately against opposing investigative firms E&O Insurance Policies for gross negligence in failure to be following industry standards of care and recognized authoritative treatises.

When I have come across things like this before, I instruct the client that without written signed directives from the client to remove the evidence from the scene, I will be following NFPA 921 and ASTM and leaving the scene intact for the opposing parties. Remember, under ASTM E860 the investigator/firm is required to notify the CLIENT about the issues of evidence, but it is up to the CLIENT to notice the interested parties about the same.

Just my two cents worth and NOT to be construed as legal advice in any respect. Talk to your inhouse attorney or have the insurance carrier get directives from inhouse counsel.