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Re: So no causes what do yall think.
Posted by:
dcarpenter (IP Logged)
Date: July 14, 2021 03:09PM
With the cause classification, the fire cause would be 1) first item ignited = an ignitable liquid as identified by the lab, 2) the competent ignition source for the first fuel ignited = a flaming piece of paper, and 3) how the competent ignition source came together with the first item ignited = a human placed the ignition source in sufficient proximity to ignite the ignitable liquid. The video provides evidence of intent to start a fire where one would not have been initiated, otherwise.
Without the cause classification, there is no ability to address evidence of intent. You can come to a reliable conclusion as to the fire cause, but without addressing intent, how do you discriminate an accidental fire from an incendiary fire based on the same Fire Cause.
I see this as a problem with, not so much not having evidence of intent (which I think is the driving force for the elimination of the classification chapter), but has a problem with a lack of methodology. Where is the methodology that allows a fire cause to be crime versus an accident? Any use of intent has been removed from any methodology in 921. It was there, but removed, perhaps because not all incendiary fires have evidence of intent. That has been a perennial problem with the crime of arson. Instead, we need to accept this limitation and not through the baby out with the bathwater.
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