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Re: So no causes what do yall think.
Posted by:
dcarpenter (IP Logged)
Date: July 20, 2021 07:21AM
"Data" is information that can be documented and verified. "Evidence" is "data" that is both relevant and reliable in a specific context. The application of the SM requires evidence to formulate valid hypotheses, as well as, to disprove hypotheses.
If a fire investigators finds data that may be reliable as evidence of intent and without the cause classification chapter (i.e., think intent), then how is this data relevant to the fire investigation and the SM? Does this render the evidence in the incendiary chapter useless? If so, then it should be eliminated too.
So, are we left with no ability to determine a fire cause that can be determined to be an incendiary fire?
It seems like the fire investigation community is "kicking the can down the road" with respect to the issue of intent and any responsibility to determine an incendiary fire. If so, then we have just pushed the limitation of evidence of intent onto another community. Do they have the reliable means to make a determination of an incendiary fire that the fire investigation community cannot?
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