Arson Fire Is Dangerous and Can Start

Arson

Fire is dangerous and can start in many different places. Fire causes much damage and risks causing much death if it's power is not properly respected and taken into consideration. Arson is a crime dealing with illegally setting fires. Fires are started all time by humans with no intent of hurting or harming anyone making the crime of arson hard to prove and difficult to fully understand. Destroying other people's property and livelihoods to the use of fire should be discouraged at all times and investigating crimes of arson would certainly help to eliminate and ultimately eradicate all of these types of crimes.

In any investigation it is important to understand what is at stake. When investigators first stumble upon a suspected case of arson and there are certain things that they should look for. Cafe & Stern (1989) created elementary rules and looking for clues of arson that included:

Fire tends to burn upwards and outwards (look for V-patterns along walls).

The presence of combustible materials will increase the intensity and extent of the fire; the fire will rise faster as it gets hotter (look for different temperature conditions).

The fire needs fuel and oxygen to continue.

A fire's spread will be influenced by factors such as air currents, walls and stairways. Falling burning debris and the effect of fire-fighters will also have an influence.

Burn patterns are useful in helping investigators locate the source of the fire. This clue along with other debris that may offer some information leading to a possible cause of the fire is the arson investigators best hope for finding out the true origin. If combustible materials seem oddly arranged within an area where the fire was suspected of being started, arson may soon become a cause of the fire. Clues need to become coherent and stay on the topic in order for them to be of any use and benefit to the investigating team.