There is the suggestion to reword the classification explanation. Remember theis is only a suggested change that now has to be addressed by the committee.

Fire Classification.

Classification of the Fire. Determining the cause of a fire and classifying the fire are two separate processes that should not be confused with each other. Classification of a fire is used for the assignment of responsibility, reporting purposes, compilation of statistics, and trend analysis. Particularly for public sector agencies, classification assists in determining responsibility, satisfying legal requirments in cases brought for prosecution, satisfying community reporting needs, and satisying internal agency reporting needs. Fire classification is a distinctly separate process that should only occur, if required, following an origin and cause conclusion.
Different jurisdictions may have alternative defnitions that should be applied as required. A fire may be classified as accidental, natural, incendiary, or unclassified. Use of the term suspicious is not an accurate description for the classification of a fire. Suspicion refers to a level of proof, or level of certainty, and is not a classification for a fire.
Accidental Fire Classification. Accidental fires involve all those for which the proven cause does not involve an intentional human act to ignite or spread fire into an area where the fire should not be. When the intent of the person's action cannot be determined or proven, the correct classification is unclassified.
Natural Fire Cause Classification. Natural fires involve fires caused without direct human intervention or action, such as fires resulting from lightning, earthquake, wind, and flood.
Incendiary Fire Classification. An incendiary fire is a fire that is intentionally ignited or spread into an area where the fire should ot be, and involves a violation of a Federal, State, local, or tribal law. Incendiary fires may also include fires that are not necessarily intentional, but directly result for other intentional criminal activity.
Unclassifed Fire Classification. An unclassified fire is a fire incident in which the investigation has yet to yield sufficient information and data to reasonably assign am incendiary, accidental, or natural classification.
Incendiary Fire Classification and Intent. No incendiary classification can be made without analyzing data related to intent. Data may originate from many sources including subject interviews, witness interviews, non-scene data such as video evidence, use and manipulation of fuels including trailers and ignitible liquids, etc. Data regarding intent must be analyzed in context of other data and in terms of relevancy, accuracy, and consistency. The scientific method should be employed as a framework to analyze data regarding intent. The development and testing of hypotheses regarding intent should be articulated as well as reasons for disposed hypotheses. Any determination of intent should be based on evidence rather than lack of evidence; however there are limited circumstances when intent cannot be directly identifed but can be logically inferred. Any incendiary fire classification determination should address in writing that:
a) the process of classification was conducted separately from that of the origin and cause determination, as classification is used solely to characterize intentional acts related to the fire incident in question
b) the process of classification identified specific data regarding intent and then analyzed it in accordance with the scientific method
c) where appropriate, the process of classification logically inferred intent based on an analysis of specific data

The reasons of this suggested change is as follows:

he section as written is inadequate and provides no guidance on fire classification, rather it refers investigators to pre-existing systems and chooses not to address the topic. This is very problematic as nearly every public sector agency classifies fires in an effort to assign responsibility in a uniform manner, answer to prosecutorial mandates in cases criminally charged, provide data and information to the public and governing authorities, and to provide data and information internally to their own agencies. The systems referred to as examples in the section are not always accessible by fire investigators (i.e. in many organizations, chief officers complete the NFIRS report and not the fire investigator), and these systems were not created, maintained or revised by an industry-wide consensus system used by a standards development organization such as NFPA. By providing no guidance in this section, the document creates a dangerous vacuum. As agencies rush to fill this vacuum with their current or newly devised reporting systems, the result will become a "wild west" of individual classification systems with conflicting language, terminology, and logic. Fire investigators will be even more confused as to differentiating fire cause from fire classification without it being addressed in NFPA 921. The courts and prosecutor offices will likewise be confused as different agencies present a patchwork of different findings related to arson within the same jurisdiction. In addition, training throughout the country will reflect this patchwork of systems, new investigators will receive locally imparted knowledge, and this will be yet another area of geographically-inconsistent practices within our profession. Lastly, the push within all forensic sciences, including fire investigation, towards standardization, certification, and accreditation requires framework and guidance on critical practices. This includes classification, a practice maintained by nearly all public sector agencies. Rather than remove the section wholesale, or refer investigators to other sources, NFPA 921 must refine its guidance and provide a framework for the inevitable practice of classification. Even though the section was seriously modified in the last edition, the current edition of NFPA 921 still refers to the role of the fire investigator in identifying responsibility. This is closely aligned with classification. For example, there is a whole chapter on Incendiary Fires (Chapter 23). Section 23.4.1 states: During the scene examination, there are other evidentiary factors that should be recorded and examined, which may be critical to the origin and cause determination, as well as identifying potential witnesses and pursuing potential suspects should the investigator conclude that the fire was incendiary. Section 23.4.1.2 states: These evidentiary factors may be used by the investigator to develop ignition hypotheses, to select witnesses for interviewing, to develop suspects, and to develop avenues for further investigation. However, the investigator is cautioned against using the discovery or presence of these indicators in forming opinions or drawing conclusions concerning the cause of the fire in the absence of other evidence. In addition, NFPA 921 Chapter 20, entitled Analyzing the Incident for Cause and Responsibility, Section 20.1.1(4) states: The degree to which human fault contributed to any one or more casual issues described in 20.1.1(1), 20.1.1(2), and 20.1.1(3). This feature deals with the human factor in the cause or spread of the fire or in bodily injury and loss of life. It encompasses acts and omissions that contribute to a loss (responsibility), such as incendiarism and negligence. As to emphasize this implication that fire investigators should be classifying fires or at least assigning responsibility, NFPA 1033, 2022 Edition, has JPR's that require fire investigators to be capable of assigning responsibility in fire investigations. Section 4.6.4 states: Establish evidence as to motive and/or opportunity given an incendiary fire, so that the evidence is supported by documentation and meets the evidentiary requirements of the jurisdiction. And Section 4.6.5 states: Formulate an opinion concerning origin, cause, or responsibility for a fire that is supported by the data, facts, records, reports, documents, scientific references, and evidence. At the very least, the existence of these NFPA 921 and 1033 passages sows confusion without guidance on classification beyond a referral to another source. It is not sufficient to refer investigators to outside sources. That is why additional language is needed in this section. The proposed revised language is based on the previous NFPA 921 edition as well as language taken from the current ATF Certified Fire Investigator Order (ATF O 3333.1. The revised language provides guidance on distinguishing classification from cause, classification definitions, and how to analyze data related to intent by using the scientific method. The revised language creates uniformity amongst agencies required to classify, as well as guidance to those investigators who might conflate cause with classification.

Jim Mazerat
Forensic Investigations Group