How do fire investigators study a fire scene to find evidence that helps them formulate a claim about the way the fire started or where it started? Let’s find out!

Dan Madrzykowski of the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) walks you through an actual post-burn fire investigation. Watch as he shows how fire investigators approach a scene, document initial observations, methodically remove debris to uncover evidence and develop a hypothesis (or claim) about the origin of the fire supported by evidence. Evidence is data combined with reasoning, supported by knowledge and understanding of fire science.

Questions

• What kinds of evidence does a fire leave behind?

Problems to be solved

• Knowing how fire behaves and the clues it leaves behind can help fire investigators determine the cause and origin of a fire.
• What story does the evidence tell you – does it match up with what you know about fire science and fire behavior?