Arson Investigation

Facts: A fire was evolved on September 23, 1981 in a log cabin due to a hot plate. The hot plate was left on with an accelerant and kerosene near by. The owner of the cabin, Henry Xavier Kennedy was convicted of Arson as he obtained an insurance policy for $40K on the cabin five days prior to this fire and police found evidence that the construction business owned by Mr. Kennedy was losing money, and Mr. Kennedy's alibi was insufficient to eliminate him as a suspect.

The county fire marshal Alan Carson, saw the fire around 1.30 am and he defined the fire was a big one. Added that the weather and

They are different than regular crime scenes because fire scenes have a different procedure. Plus, most fires scenes don’t require a search warrant. This is because it can take a long time to get a search warrant but with fire scenes it is crucial to get the evidence as soon as possible because causes of the fire, like petroleum, can evaporate within days, or even hours of the fire. Also, they need to know how to prevent the fire from starting again and possibly injuring fire fighters or other emergency responders.

The main area of there expertise is to analyse any evidence and determine which, if any, type of accelerant was used. It is similar to the examination of crime scenes as both must be preserved and evidence collected and analysed, but when examining a fire scene numerous additional difficulties and dangers are presented. The investigation normally includes surveying any damage to scene to establish the origin of the fire and establishing the cause.

In the short video “Death by Fire” we learn of the story of Todd Willingham. We are presented with facts about a fire, which killed Willingham’s three children, which ultimately sent him to his death. The case begins in the small town of Corsicana, Texas. On December 13, 1991 Todd Willingham’s home was ablaze and his children were trapped inside. Neighbors say they witnessed Willingham outside, on the front porch screaming for his children and screaming for help. As the fire raged, firefighters arrived on the scene and were able to pull one of the children out of the home. Unfortunately all of the children died due to injuries they sustained in the fire. While the fire raged in the house Todd’s wife Stacy was out Christmas shopping and was unharmed. The attitude of Todd after the fire began to raise question with those who were close to him and also with investigators. The night after the fire, a local bar had a benefit to raise money for Todd’s family to help pay for the costs they would soon face. Many say that Todd became too involved with the festivities and seemed like he did not care his kids had just died. They say that Todd was bragging about how money would begin to roll in because people would feel bad for him. Having seen these things, investigators immediately labeled Todd as their prime suspect.

Whereas law enforcement initially functions as individuals, fire dispatching normally involves one or more units of personnel. The types of fire calls are as unpredictable as law enforcement. There are many different types of fire calls, something as simple as smelling smoke, to a fully involved structure with occupants inside. It is the dispatchers responsibility to glean detains that will allow fire fighters to respond with the appropriate personnel and apparatus. When seconds count, it is critical that dispatchers obtain complete and accurate information. On occasion there is a nexus between firefighting and law enforcement such as an arson fire. Again it is critical that the dispatcher obtain complete and accurate information. It may be necessary to coordinate a law enforcement response simultaneously with a fire response. An example would be the arson fire of the Muslim mosque in Joplin in 2012. This was a total loss structure fire that was deliberately set. Ultimately information obtained by dispatchers and conveyed to line police officers resulted in a conviction of an arsonist and the ability of the mosque to get financial recovery and

For years if not decades, firefighters have responded to a reported structure fire that turned out to be a fully involved single room. This fire scenario requires a core set of fire tactics and skills to control and extinguished the fire, but is it this simple? Perhaps twenty years it may have been, but new dangers are lurking in every scenario and may have detrimental outcomes for unsuspecting and unaware firefighters and victims. The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) agency along with the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) have been conducting research to understand fire behavior and fire dynamics. This research is providing firefighters with new information about how and why

Inherently the fire service operates in high-risk environments to facilitate the role of preserving life safety and property conservation. How these incidents are managed and safeguarded by our administration

By now the crime scene has been labeled a homicide and detectives have been dispatched to the scene. When the detectives arrive the lead officer will then provide a detailed crime scene briefing to the detective in charge of the scene. This briefing will be the only opportunity for the detective to receive the initial aspects of the crime scene prior to subsequent investigation. Since the crime scene and any/all evidence collected are the key factors in making a case, the crime scene must be documented as soon as possible including, appearance and condition of the scene upon arrival, lights on/off, shades up/down, doors, windows open/closed, any unusual smells, ice, liquids, weather conditions, temperature, and any personal items that may have been left behind. Once the lead detective has been briefed and evaluates the scene him/herself, he/she will then need to determine if consent to search and/or obtaining a search warrant is needed. The scene assessment allows the lead detective

The first things you should do when demonstrating what writing order for the arson unit is knowing how the personal items for each and every arson investigator should have on them. Besides, every arson investigator should have personal items made available to them to carry and that includes protective clothing such as hardhats, fire resistant overalls, steel-capped boots, thick gloves, and a face mask. Supplies of gas and electricity should be switched off before the investigation begins. When specializing in these items for arson investigators to carry you should have certain types of containers that will not alter the chemical properties of the accelerants and shatterproof eye shields protecting them from the fire debris. “Teach and practice

The available data, however, does show that arson is the leading cause of property loss. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), there were approximately 323,900 reported cases of arson in 2005 (U.S. Fire Administration, 2009). These arsons resulted in 493 deaths, including three firefighters, 1,500 civilian injuries, and the injury of 7,600 firefighters, as well over $1.1 billion in property damage (U.S. Fire Administration, 2009).

Thousands of fires occur on a yearly basis throughout the United States. Whether it is forest fires, house fires, or any other event that involves uncontrollable flames, the outcome will always be the same; high amounts of destruction and physical damage. When fire emergencies occur, responding to the incident may not be much of a complication as apposed to determining the source from where the fire started or what triggered its behavior, which is truly the challenge. In order to do so, a fire investigator has to be present at the scene of the fire after it has been eliminated. The investigator, after reviewing any possible marks or behavior trails, will conclude if the incident was indeed an accident or intentional, thus making it an act

In the documentation stage of an organized approach for processing the crime scene all functions have to correspond and be consistent in depicting the crime scene. The final results of a properly documented crime scene are the ability of others to take the finished work and reconstruction the events that occurred at the scene and make a court room presentation. In the Scene Documentation stage there are three simple steps to properly document the crime scene written notes and reports, photographs, sketching.

They have to make sure that before they entered the crime scene, nothing in the scene should have been moved. While they are going through a walk-through, they may have to construct theories about what happened in the crime scene based on visual examination. Investigators have to take photographs of the scene and will later on be collected. Taking photographs of the scene will help them solve the crime because there are some points of the investigation that investigators may have overlooked evidence, and that evidence could be found in the photographs. After taking photographs of the scene, they will start to collect clue and evidence that may lead them to their possible suspect(s). What they may find in the crime scene are fingerprints which can be done using colored powder and a brush, other thizngs such as blood, firearms, hair, glass and many more things that can be found in the crime scenes.

For starters, why would someone want to burn property Many people assume that the people that are setting these fire are bad kids or teenagers acting out or looking for attention, but that not the case. The real reason is so people can lie to insurance company and gain money. Sometimes business owners hire professional arsonists to burn down there business without leaving a trace of arson. Other than that investigator might be dealing with a pyromaniac. A pyromaniac is a person who absolutely loves fire. The smell of gas or smoke sends them into ecstasy. Lighting a candle and blowing it out and relighting it and blowing it out repeatedly, watching the smoke lightly twirl around in the air, is a good sign of a pyro. Many pyros can figure out different types of gas and/or what's being burnt just from the