The use of motive, means, and opportunity to arrive at responsibility for a "set fire, has to serially pass through a determination of whether the fire was accidental or incendiary. Plain and simple. This determination can be through the determination of the fire cause or through some of the evidence in the incendiary chapter.

Yes, evidence of intent may not exist in all cases, but there can be physical evidence of intent that can be used in some cases.This does not seem to justify removing the fire cause classification from the document.

By removing the need for any determination related to the use of intent as evidence does not seem to allow for a determination of any fire cause to be an incendiary or "set fire." Thus, without the use of intent as evidence, all fires would have to be determined to be accidental. Prove me wrong.

Douglas J. Carpenter, MScFPE, CFEI, PE, FSFPE
Vice President & Principal Engineer
Combustion Science & Engineering, Inc.
8940 Old Annapolis Road, Suite L
Columbia, MD 21045
(410) 884-3266
(410) 884-3267 (fax)
www.csefire.com