See Dan Madrzykowski, The Future of Fire Investigation, Fire Chief Magazine, October 2000.

Keep in mind the disclaimer that accompanies both FDS and CFAST:

"The software package is a computer model that may or may not have predictive capability when applied to a specific set of factual circumstances. Lack of accurate predictions by the model could lead to erroneous conclusions with regard to fire safety. All results should be evaluated by an informed user."

There could be a reason that the disclaimer mentions "fire safety" but not "fire investigation." IMHO,the reason that fire investigation is not mentioned is that the designers of the models did not have fire investigation in mind when they wrote the programs. This use of the models is interesting, but ancillary to their intended purpose.

The mere circumstance that data can be organized and quantified provides no guarantee that the results will portray anything real.

Proceed with caution.