jimtrue.com : school : CJT1111 : 2003-06-18: Arson & Explosives (Ch 11)
Posted by Jim True on June 18, 2003 6:26 AM. Last Updated October 22, 2006 9:23 PM
Disclaimer for all material noted here is at the bottom of this web page.
John Warfield, guest instructor
Worked together for 8 years in the Forensic Science section. To track an arsonist, you must BE one. October, 1990. 13 years. Field training officers, specializing in fire, arson and bombs.
General Safety, Documentation and Collection. A lot of information has come about new since 911. Kansas City, Federal building - car bombings. Deal with fires and bombs.
Standard Dive Tank heated up and 3 doors down into the side of a vehicle. Superheated during the fire, fell off the shelf, through a concrete wall, through a car.
Fire
Cause and Origin; accidental and arson. Your job will not be to determine those things, but will be to assist those determining that information. When dealing with fires throw most of the photography rules out the window. Open aperture up all the way, black material will absorb the flash.
Find out what's going on prior to arriving on the scene. Web interface pinellascounty.go - active calls. 911 interface. Want to know what you're going into due to: safety and manpower.
Find out who the incident commanders (district chiefs) are, or who has requested you, fire scene investigators. Incident commanders must know where all fire officers are located during the fire scene. Also need to know where you as the crime scene invesigator is located and the fire inspector. They will also fill you in on any hazards present at the fire scene.
Accidental & Arson
NFPA - National Fire Protection Agency - set the standards for investigation. Section 921 comes into play due to lawsuits. If ruled accidental, under 921 insurance companies have a right to enter the fire scene to test and investigate. Insurance companies will do their own forensic investigation, determine if the fire was fought properly.
Under 921 rule, if ruled an Arson, allowed to move, document and collect evidence.
If an arson, was it fraud or cover up for another crime, or crimes. City Lights on 66th street; arson became a third crime covering up the burglary stealing money out of the safe. Bookkeeper came in early, murdered her and torched the place. Covering up: fraud, burglaries, murder, embezzlement.
Things to do & ask when you get on scene
Want to know if the electrical is off? Want to know if there are any deaths or injuries involved? May have to send someone to the Tampa Burn center? Find out if owners or victims are on scene - oftentimes you will be the first police responder on scene. Can they draw out the location or layout of the building? You'll also know what was on which floors. Offices or machinery. Problems - electrical, vandals or threats. Ex-employees. Unhappy customers, neighbors, developers coming in trying to buy locations.
Fire investigators are often not police certified; crime scene investigator goes under the fire inspection; under the fire marshall or fire inspector.
Primary: Photography. A lot of agencies are going to digital. If fire includes a homicide, have to shoot on film. Exteriors first, and include the crowds. Never know who might be in the crowd. If you get their early, when the fire crews are still there. Do overlaps of the buildings; do overhead shots. Use fire crews bucket trucks. Make arrangements to call for aerials. Important to know what's on the roof.
Know the limits to your photography; section it off, overlap (find a point in the photograph to tie the next photograph to the prior one for overlaps.) General interiors, including doors and windows. Some can be done from outside (windows, and general interior from outside the window). Investigative photos as they move items (catch the layers) and collection sites.
Collection Sites - general overall with all the collection evidence numbers laid out; closer general of the area, each collection site will have at least 3 photos. Overall, closer general, closeup - including photo #, the collection area, the paint can (showing inside) and the latex gloves used in the collection, setting outside the paint can on the ground. Proves each sample is a SEPARATE collection.
Collections in metal paint cans. Must have air space above the sample. Lined cans - 3 sections to a can, crush and cut collection and give 2/3's full for 1/2 headspace for sampling. They will test a charcoal strip put inside the can and heated. Charcoal is absorbent and will absorb any accelerants present in the airspace above the debris.
Cans showing, no gloves - not correct photograph. Gloves should be on the ground and not on the can itself. K-9 handlers use flourescent golf-tees. Golf tees are a K-9 handlers 'mark' of a suspect area. K-9 units are trained for accelerants. State Farm pays for a lot of the dogs.
Photos, overlaps, document the corners, catch the peak of the roof. Smoke coming up the windows. Pattern or V-pattern. Document anything unusual. Same documentation for burglaries and traffic accidents.
Pasco and Tampa have cameras on fire engines of 'first response'. News media have boom-cams. Can work with the media to get aerial shots.
Pay attention to the Fire Department and what they do. Document what they've done. Get pictures before the roof is pulled down (overhaul). Fire department are responsible for 'cause and origin'; crime scene investigator is resonsible for 'accident or arson' -- is it a crime.
Overall and roof shots, showing roof damage. Will show a point of interest. Sudden explosion.
Why is it dark at a certain area on the ground? Why is the sign burning? Being first on scene, you can catch photos of 'odd' points of interest. Metal building will start folding in, air conditioning, etc. - firemen's job is containment. Fire investigator's job is to determine cause and origin. Evidence may not be there after the fire.
Overalls good for 'hazards' and for 'early fire damage' could be points of origin. Usually a fire inspector or safety officer will go up in the bucket with you.
Tanker Fire at Fort Desoto: strictly documentation case. Pilot of the boat was drunk. Shots from the fire boats and chopper overhead. Environmental damage.
As materials heat up will melt and draw toward your heat source. Drawn toward the hot parts of the fire.
Documentation, documentation, documentation.
Look for the V patterns. Bald spots. Voids. On dead bodies, parts of the body that are not burned, or cuts and breaks in skin that are not burnt.
Look for items being moved, heavy damage and areas of less damage. POE is usually determined as the safest point of entry and make sure you have a safe way out.
Documentation of a smoker (cigarette burn spots on furniture).
Person tied to a chair; burned up the apartment, tied himself up so he wouldn't chicken out. Suicide.
Who moved the dog? Picture of a fire with an outline of a dog (void).
Photograph the circuit breaker box if you have access to it. If you have an electrical fire, circuits will short out. Photograph clocks. If all the circuit breakers are turned off; find out who turned them off.
Often document the circuit breaker to show conditions. Florida power will pull the meter, main feed from the street or outside the house. Asking Florida pull all three leads; not just the hot leads.
Document the employees working the scene of the fire; front and back and any injuries.
Outlets with burn patterns; cross reference with items in the room. Older home with dimmer switches (as long as they are partially on, they will still have energy in them.
Trail on the fire to the car, going TO or From?
Belongings around the fire; personal fire.
Conditions in the house leading to the fire; or endangerment to a handicapped parent, neglect or child abuse.
Documentation evidence of the owner or person indicating the evidence. Showing the meter and where it stopped.
Explosions & Bombs
P. 331 - Bomb diagram. Safety first. Primary responsibility is yourself; secondary responsibility, make sure your teammate doesn't kill you.
Take into account secondary multiple explosions; structural damage to the house. Setup a 'double-zone'; at least 1 1/2 times from the last visible item found. Item at 100 ft, safety zone should be at least 150. First zone at least 150; set another at 200.
Search Upwards, downwards and outwards - check roofs, trees, cars, buildings. Do not move items, preferably without photographing them. The goal is to leave it, photograph it, put your numbers with it and make sure your notes and documentation coincide. Measure, be able to put an item back into place on the diagram; also measure from center of the crater.
On an outside homicide; create another area called a 'detective zone'. Protects them from the media. If you find something in the 'detective zone', move the safe work zone outside that area.
Go below the crater; metal detectors. At lot of pipe bombs are PVC pipe. Podiatrist picked a Dunkin Donuts box, video cases for bombs. Wife turned state's evidence; was looking at manufacturing and threat of terrorism. Case of 'suspected battery', turned out to be Podiatrist was a bomb expert. Had the house booby-trapped.
Log, sketch, photographs and items collected, numbers and documentation all match and correlate completely.
Processing of items: take into consideration what's going to be more important. Are prints going to be more important or determination of what the item or product is? Bottle - more important to get the fingerprints or what the liquid inside is. Case agent has to make that determination. Will heat from the analysis destroy the fingerprints? Will the superglue tank destroy the fumes from the accellerant inside the container.
Take into consideration limiting the air-time if you do have to process an item. Lose the least amount of vapors from arson; do the least amount of handling of bomb evidence.
Make sure the items are safe before handling them - Bomb Squad determines the safety margin. Tool chest, mercury switch for leveling, lever switch at top and bottom. Purse triggered to blow up the bomb robot. Nosy cat gets hurt; 'curiosity killed the cat'.
Disclaimer: These are MY notes taken from classroom lectures while I'm in the classroom. While I'm perfectly happy to share my notes with my classmates and I know I take very good notes, you should still make every effort to attend the class and TAKE YOUR OWN NOTES. I will not transcribe everything the instructor says in the classroom, and I will NEVER post pre-exam reviews. My notes will not replace the value of actually attending class and taking your own class notes.I also cannot attest to their accuracy, other than they are what was provided in the lecture; you should not reference my notes as "expert opionion" by any means, and if you notice an error or omission, please do me the favor of e-mailing me with the correction and I will re-post my notes. End of Disclaimer.