Everyone needs to read the article in the Fire and Arson Investigator addressing bias. It is one of the best, if not the best article addressing this subject. Steve should be congratulated on the work he put into this article and its value to the fire investigation profession.

Attorneys have latched onto the issue of bias in fire investigations. In recent depositions I find the quality of the questions being asked with regards to bias have greatly improved. Many attorneys believe this is an Achilles’ heel that needs to be explored during questioning. They have made some headway mainly because the fire investigator has not received much education in this area. The lack of complete understanding of bias and how biased comes to be during an investigation is a problem.

Where NFPA 921 delves into the issue slightly the article is much more in depth and explaining bias and how there is bias in everything we do to some extent. It does not use bias is something bad but just as a natural phenomenon in human behavior. I would say it is important to read this article a couple of times and then put it down and come back to a couple of days or maybe a week later and reread it. I believe everyone that reads this article will be able to relate directions on the fire scene investigation to what is being described.

Jim Mazerat
Forensic Investigations Group