Mike,

Fire melts may occur anytime during the fire. They may have de-energized the circuit or happened long after the power was cut. Since there really is no sure way to know what the situation is, I would err on the side of conservative and not include them. Only include what you know was arc damage.

As for the non-severing arcs. Many arcs that only notch the wire cause the OCP to trip. Many times this is the one and only arc damage you will find on the wire. These should definately be mapped. Also, If you find a notched wire downstream from an arc sever you now are certain which one occured first (the notch). I have been to many a scene where most of my arcs were only notched wires and the OCP's tripped (as they are designed to). The concept is still valid. With the use of arc fault interrupters we may start see fewer and fewer arc severed wires and more arc notched only wires.

As for your last comment. Yes, your point is well taken. That is why I stressed you need to understand construction, routing, etc. The main thrust of Electrical Arc Survey (Arc mapping) is to validate and delineate the fire progression. The totality of the scene must be taken into account when arc mapping. If the case you mentioned ultimately resulted in the main panel being damaged the mapping would still have shown that the fire was traveling in remote areas while the panel was still energized.

Arc mapping is A tool, not THE tool.

John