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Fire Investigation SOP/SOG
at this time our department is updating the SOP/ SOG for the prevention division on steps to follow when conduting fire investigations and also the safety for fire investigation. does anyone have some good information for reveiw to assist with this process.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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Go back to basics...that is go back to "Principles of Fire Investigation" and use this as a basic guideline....you may want to also contact your State OFPC and see what resources they may have....
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Permalink Reply by Brian Mackie on
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Agreed! Back to the basics for not only the investigator, but the entire dept. Every single member that works a fire, should have at minimum, an arson awareness course under his/her belt. They are the ones that can make or break an investigation. If they are not even aware of the basic do's and don'ts when operating at any fire scene, critical evidence can be destroyed. There are many excellent books on the topic too. Fire life safety courses could be available to those who want to pursue that aspect of the fire service. As far as SOP/SOG's- I suspect many of them will be simply guidelines as opposed to procedures. Again, its all back to the very basics, and work from there.
good luck
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Permalink Reply by Reg Mathis on
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Maybe I'm just being picky(or nosey), but why would you want to provide an SOP for Fire Investigation(conducted AFTER the fire is out) for the PREVENTION Division? Isn't Prevention supposed to deal with things BEFORE the fire breaks out?
Just wondering...
Reg
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Reg. thats not uncommon. Where I work, the Fire Prevention Division is tasked with code enforcement, inspections and investigations.
At a fire, they are tasked to start the fire investigation process. This includes gathering information and evidence as we (suppression) are putting the fire out. Once the fire has been declared under control, the investigation process is turned over to the fire prevention division. Having tem on scene early has also affords an easier investigation. By policy, we are to secure evidence or point of origin before we fully overhaul, unless there is a concern for further fire spread.
Which if you have ever done an investigation, it sucks when overzealous firefighters empty an entire room and its contents onto a lawn and then have to re-piece the puzzle.
Our SOG also states we must contact prevention to investigate all fires. In the event of a fatality, prevention will investigate in conjunction with the State Fire Marshall's Office.
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OFPC has the responsibilities to include prevention...and control...the State Investigators work under them....and for the record...In NY the Fire Chief has the last call on Cause of a fire....that's why many times they call for Investigators.....If a Chief says that a UFO crashed and caused the fire then for the record that is listed as the cause....
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Permalink Reply by felipe pedraza on
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that is the problem we have, we have to many gun young guys and gals that feel that the investigation of a fire is not inportant, but to investigate a fire you approach most of them the same way and that is the simple way. but the main purpose to this update is to address all suppression personal as well on fire scene preservation not to educate, everyone has receive some sort of training in rocky school.
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