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Scene security-Locks
Date: October 20, 2006 10:35AM
I have complained about 921 not being complete. Here is a short example. Any fire scene you go to you must be aware of the security of the structure. This is even before you make a call on the fire. Listen to people who tell you if the door was open or closed when they arrived. Listen, then verify. It dosen't matter if you later call it an arson or accidential. To check the locks, locksets are door knobs that lock with a key. Check the doors your self. If the fire took out the front and rear doors you can still find the locksets in the fire debris. Most front and back doors are metal clad. The locksets will be hanging in the open metal where they were installed. DO NOT DISASMBLE THE LOCKSETS. Use sheet metal cutters and cut the lockset out so that it stays complete. If you do not know how to look at the lockset to tell if it was locked or unlocked at the time of the fire, go to a local locksmith, he (she) can tell you.
DEADBOLTS.. the keyway of a deadbolt will turn 360 degrees if it has no stop on the back. The deadbolt itself is the stop. You can not determine if the deadbolt was locked or unlocked if you can not find the deadbolt. Many times in a heavy fire scene the deadbolt will seperate from the keyway lock. Look for it, it has to be near the door. When you find it the bolt will either be extended (locked) or retracted (unlocked).
Train your firefighters to stop throwing the doors out into the yard and to keep them as close to their original positions. When overhauling the scene look for the locks and set them near the door they came from.
If the structure had wooden doors the locks will be in the ashes below. Not many of the new structures have wooden doors.
Commercial structures. All will have metal doors. Use common sense when checking those doors. Look for inside slide locks and any other method used to lock the structure.
Common sense is needed. If the structure burned into the basement the steel portions of the locks DID NOT MELT! They are in the ashes. Find the doorways and dig. A good working relationship with a local locksmith will give you many ways of determining the position of the locks.
Always ask the owner/renter... on every fire... was the structure locked or unlocked when he (she) left, then verefy.
This is my short version of structure locks. I hope it has been worthwhile.