Category Archives: Uncategorized

Yannick Alexis yalexis@jensenhughes.com
Daniel Gottuk dgottuk@jensenhughes.com
Jensen-Hughes
Baltimore, MD USA

Christopher B. Wood christopher.wood@firelinkllc.com
FireLink, LLC
Tewksbury, MA USA

ABSTRACT

This paper explores thermally induced activation of Molded Case Circuit Breakers (MCCBs) that are commonly found in residential, small office and commercial occupancies. A total of 81 MCCBs were put into an oven with no current (i.e. no-load), along with thermocouples that were connected to a data acquisition system to track trip status and air temperatures proximate to the breakers. Different types of MCCBs were tested and results tabulated based on the brand, number of poles, and amperage ratings of the breakers. All the MCCBs were activated thermally during the testing, and the trip temperatures of the different types of MCCBs are displayed graphically. The breakers tended to trip between 350°F (177°C) and 470°F (243°C) and between 16 to 22 minutes from when the oven reached 160°F (the MCCB’s maximum operating temperature) and then followed a linear temperature increase of 10°F/min (5.6°C/min). The changes in the breakers’ physical conditions were also noted. This experiment provides further evidence that thermal activation of circuit breakers exposed to fire conditions may be a consideration for the investigator of a fire. Recommendations for future work are also included.

Download the Complete Paper Here

NAFI’s mission is to increase the knowledge and improve the skills of persons engaged in the investigation and analysis of fires, explosions and arsons, or the litigation that ensues from such investigations. The opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the opinion and beliefs of NAFI.

James L. Mazerat
Senior Fire Specialist
Forensic Investigations Group, LLC

ABSTRACT
Communication is the heart of every profession. Everything you do results from communication. Good reading, writing, speaking and listening skills are essential if tasks are going to be completed and goals achieved. As you develop your career, you will find various reasons why successful communication skills are important to you. You have to give clear attention to what you say to others. You need to ensure that what you say is clear, accurate, honest and appropriate. It is appropriate to consider the ages of those receiving the information as well their level of understanding of the subject matter being communicated. Your tone of voice is also important as one could wrongly believe you are irritated in having to explain the topic that you believe should be understood. If the communication is important to you, your tone should communicate you feel their understanding is just as important.

Communications may be one of the most important skills for an investigator to learn, yet it is one of the least taught in presentations and training. An investigator is asked to express the findings of the investigation to others through written or verbal communications. If the investigator cannot successfully accomplish this task, the investigation will not be successful. This article will mainly address the verbal communication issue.

Download Complete Paper Here

Hon. Donald M. Flack(retired)
J.D. Armstrong Teasdale LLP, USA

Presented at the International Symposium on Fire Investigation Science and Technology, 2018

ABSTRACT

Fire and Explosion investigators are often called upon to testify in legal proceedings. For this testimony to be useful, it must explain the relevant scientific principles sufficiently for the audience to understand them, as well as how those principles apply to the facts at issue in the particular case. For the testimony to be useful, or relied upon by the judge or jury, it also must be presented in a way that keeps the audience interested. It can be difficult as an expert witness to control your own testimony because you are limited to responding to the questions being asked. But an expert can greatly improve the effectiveness of testimony with thoughtful planning.

This paper discusses a thoughtful approach to preparing to testify more effectively in four steps. First, consider the audience–whether it is a judge or jury; and if a judge, what type of judge. Second, consider the point of the testimony–what is the conclusion you want the judge or jury to reach? Third, determine which specific scientific principles are necessary to draw the audience to that conclusion–it is important to not skip any steps in the analysis but also to not add unnecessary elements to the discussion. Fourth–consider thoughtfully how to best educate the audience on those principles–for example, use appropriate technical terminology but define the terms and then reduce them to a lay person’s language. Finally, watch the audience and react to them– not only will their expressions and body language provide clues to their level of understanding, but they will notice your attention to them and become even more interested.

Download Complete Paper Here

Source: NIST.gov

The town of Hinckley, Minnesota, is destroyed by a forest fire on this day in 1894. A total of 440 people died in the area.

The upper Midwest was particularly vulnerable to devastating fires at the end of the 19th century as European settlers cleared the land for agriculture and timber and new railroad lines were built through heavily wooded areas. Hinckley was a new lumber and rail town built along the Grindstone River in Minnesota near the Wisconsin border. The town’s settlers felled trees for lumber using slash cutting techniques that left behind large amounts of wood debris—excellent fire fuel. Further, they set up lumber yards very close to the rail lines. This proved a dangerous combination when sparks from trains set the wood debris ablaze.

In the summer of 1894, drought conditions in the Upper Midwest made a deadly fire even more likely. On the afternoon of September 1, fires near two rail lines south of Hinckley broke out and spread north. As the raging fire reached the town’s train depot, 350 of the townspeople got on a train to escape. The train had to pass right through flames, but reached safety in West Superior, Wisconsin.

Other Hinckley residents sought refuge in the swamps near town, but many in this group were killed, some from drowning. About 100 other residents fled to a gravel pit fill with water; most managed to survive. A train that was entering Hinckley from the north reversed direction to avoid the blaze, but still caught fire. The only survivors were those who managed to jump from the train into a lake.

In all, 300,000 acres of town and forest burned in the fire, causing about $25 million in damages. In Hinckley, 228 people died. More than 200 others in the surrounding areas also perished, including 23 Ojibwa natives.

Source: History.com
Image: Wikipedia.org

A huge section of the city of Constantinople, Turkey, is set ablaze on June 5 in 1870. When the smoke finally cleared, 3,000 homes were destroyed and 900 people were dead.

The fire began at a home in the Armenian section of the Valide Tchesme district. A young girl was carrying a hot piece of charcoal to her family’s kitchen in an iron pan when she tripped, sending the charcoal out the window and onto the roof of an adjacent home. The fire quickly spread down Feridje Street, one of Constantinople’s main thoroughfares.

The Christian area of the city was quickly engulfed. There was a high degree of cooperation among the various ethnic groups who called the city home, but even this was no match for the high winds that drove the rapidly spreading fire. An entire square mile of the city near the Bosporus Strait was devastated. Only stone structures, mostly churches and hospitals, survived the conflagration.

In 1887, Edmondo de Amicis published perhaps the best account of this disaster in a book called Constantinople.

Source: History.com

Christopher J. Reed, CFEI, MIFireE, MSc.Eng (Fire), P.Eng,
Sereca Fire Consulting Ltd., British Columbia, Canada

Presented at International Symposium on Fire Investigation, 2014

ABSTRACT
Fires occurring in marine environments present the fire investigator with unique challenges. The nature of the marine environment presents an immediate safety hazard and introduces complications in suppression, scene documentation, and evidence contamination. As the scene can sink or become submerged, fire patterns are obscured and evidence can be lost, contaminated, or otherwise dispersed. Because the fire may occur in remote areas, within boathouses or in close proximity to other boats, additional fuel, the environment, and suppression tactics can further limit the investigator’s ability to identify causation factors.

Overall, the general site conditions, construction materials, and the specific electrical and mechanical systems leaves the investigator wading through collapsed structures and sunken vessels, endless piles of burned fiberglass, congealed plastics and melted aluminum, and a disarray of electrical, fuel, and mechanical systems all potentially compromised further by salt water and oxidation not related to the fire. The interpretation of fire patterns is further complicated by specific ventilation effects, fuel loads in different areas of the vessel, and the unusual progression of the fire as it is obstructed or contained by bulkheads in the cabins and hull. The combination of lightweight materials and the influence of venting from open hatches, port lights, or passageways can create fire patterns that could mislead the investigator from the true origin and cause.

This paper examines the process of conducting a marine fire investigation from securing sunken vessels to evaluating common ignition scenarios in vessels and land based associated facilities. Investigation methodologies outlined in NFPA 921 (2014) are reviewed and common failure modes of the various systems are categorized with characteristic fire damage to assist in cause determination.

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On June 26 in 1807, lightning hits a gunpowder factory in the small European country of Luxembourg, killing more than 300 people. Lightning kills approximately 73 people every year in the United States alone, but victims are almost always killed one at a time. The Luxembourg disaster may have been the most deadly lightning strike in history.

The earth experiences 8 to 9 million lightning strikes every single day. In a typical year, the United States will see about 70,000 thunderstorms somewhere in its territory. This produces approximately 20 million lightning strikes annually. A bolt of lightning can reach 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit in instant heat. There are 100 million volts in an average lightning bolt, which can be as much as five miles long.

In 1807, Luxembourg was occupied by Napoleon’s army. The French dictator used the country to stockpile weapons and ammunition. Many underground bunkers were built for this purpose.  In the southern Luxembourg city of Kirchberg, a fortress built in 1732 was used as an armory.

When lightning struck the fortress on June 26, the ammunition housed within ignited on contact, causing a massive explosion. Two entire blocks were completely razed by the blast, which caused several other fires to rage nearby.  The London Times later reported, “This city has been plunged into the greatest consternation and distress.”

Source: History.com

One of the most destructive fires in the history of the city occurred on 18 June 1875, when a disastrous fire in the Liberties area of the city saw burning whiskey flow through the streets of the area like lava. A malt house and a bonded warehouse went up in flames, leaving the burning liquid to flow down Ardee Street and Mill Street. The fire began just after 8pm, and contemporary news reports give an idea of just how much burning booze was involved, with the Illustrated London News reporting:

The fire was at Reid’s malt-house and Malone’s bonded warehouse, in the Liberties. The former had above £2000 worth of malt in it, and the latter, which immediately adjoins it, had 1800 puncheons of whisky, the property of various distillers, and worth £54,000.

Read more about The 1875 Liberties Whiskey Fire

Meet a NAFI member: Richard Meier

Everyone at the National Association of Fire Investigators works hard to make sure our members reach their goals by supporting them with a variety of NFPA based trainings, certifications, and resources. When our members have the relevant education and resources that meet their needs, we’ve succeeded! We are proud of our team and are happy to share more about them with you.

Rich Meier is a Senior Staff Expert, Fire and Explosion Analyst, Lead Investigator with John A. Kennedy & Associates, Inc. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology from the University of Akron that he earned while working full time, serving in the US Army Reserves and being called to active duty.

Rich lived in Illinois, Ohio and Texas as a child, and ended up in Ohio.  He moved to Florida in 2000 because he had had enough of snow, and loves boating and diving.

How did you get started working in fire investigation?
I first met Pat Kennedy while dating his daughter Christine, now my wife.  When he found out I was both a mechanical engineer and an avid boater, he asked me to consult on a couple of marine cases, one explosion and one fire on an antique yacht.  From there I was hooked.  I studied fire investigation for about 2 years before joining Kennedy and Associates full time.  It is the most interesting thing I’ve ever done and now I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Why is NAFI an important organization for fire investigation?
I feel that NAFI puts a lot of emphasis on the basics.  We stress the scientific method because it’s a reliable roadmap to follow when you’re doing your investigation.  Yes, we also teach more complex topics, but we try to make sure you have the fundamentals in place first.  That includes all the requirements of NFPA 1033, in addition to other useful skills.

What is your favorite part of being involved with NAFI?
Meeting and networking with the members.  Through NAFI I know people on almost every continent.  I hear some interesting stories and learn a lot.  After teaching a class someone will come up and say “You know…” or “What about…?”  I’ll go find out and hopefully my class is that much better the next time I teach it.

What advice do you have for fire investigators just starting out?Learn everything you can and never stop asking questions.  Listen to other fire investigators when you’re at a fire scene, but don’t take anything as gospel.  Some really know what they’re doing and some don’t.  When you think you know everything, it’s time to look for another career.

What is a quote you live by?
I have a lot of favorites, so I’m not sure that I can narrow it down to just one.  Here’s two…

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.” – Nido Qubein

“Do something every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt