You are right about the public FI’s need for the statics. This is addressed in a comment in the administration section of the document. The statement in the document is, “The Guide considers NIFRS reports as incident reports and not an investigative report. The information contained in the NIFRS report should generally be considered a preliminary report of the fire department concerning any fire or explosion incident. An NIFRS report should not be used as a fire investigation report.”

There are insurance companies using credit reports as part of the factor to determine if their SIUs need to be involved in the investigation. They are not waiting on the conclusion of the fire investigator. I have also seen a case where the original private fire investigator working with the SIU investigator determined a stove fire to be incendiary. The support for this in both of their reports was the credit status of the person. In this case the private investigators supervisor conducted a separate review and determined the fire started on the stove but refused to go along with it being intentional. The insurance company proceeded with the denial of the claim. Guess what I am saying it is happening all over and not just with the public sector. I have one case where the private fire investigator did fire modeling to support his finding. His modeling showed the fire could have started before the person entered the building. Even with this evidence, he testified in criminal court that the only way the fire could have started was if this person set the fire.

Jim Mazerat
Forensic Investigations Group