Fire investigators: their role in putting out flames

When you think of fires, your first thought may be firefighters.

However, fire investigators are also an important part of fighting fires.

Fire investigators serve different purposes state to state.

Locally, Yuma fire investigators determine the origin and cause of fires.

The cause may be natural for example, if lightning were to strike a fire or the cause may be accidental for example a stove fire.

If the fire is an arson fire intentionally set, then it becomes a police investigation as well.

“The fire investigators function as subject matter experts for fire behavior,” said Mike Erfert public information officer with Yuma Fire Department.

Fire investigators’ appearance to a scene depends on a case to case business.

Erfert says investigators are called out most often when the call is to a structure fire.

Investigators help the fire department take part in an incident that is not particularly obvious to a fire company.

If the cause is obvious, fire investigators are unlikely to be called to the scene.

Fire investigators arrive on scene after fire suppression to interview witnesses and talking to people on the scene or the owner of the property.

Investigators must wait until the fire is put out and is deemed safe to enter, according to Erfert.

In the case of fires reported, investigators use a scientific method in which they explore the least burned areas to the most burned areas.

“Essentially at a fire scene, everything that was there before a fire is still there, it just looks a lot different,” said Erfert .

In addition to on-scene evidence, paying attention to fire patterns can lead to the origin of the fire.

When dealing with an outdoor fire, investigators pay attention to weather conditions.

What was the direction of the wind?

Is there a campsite nearby?

Is the weather condition normally like this during the season?

“It’s really whatever the scene leads you to,” Erfert said.

Sometimes, what a witness claims is not what the scene indicates.

In reference to the time it takes to solve a fire incident, it is always a case by case basis.

Some fires can be solved within a number of hours and others require investigators to close a case until more evidence is discovered.

In the case of the California fires that are only 30% or less contained, sources even on social media are critical.

Investigators cannot explore a scene until it is contained.

According to a public information officer with CAL FIRE, there has been no lead to the three fires in California.

The winds and dry condition are a seasonal norm with 15 miles per hour winds.

CAL FIRE says the 30% of the fire that has been contained has allowed investigators to look into those certain areas to try to determine the cause.