Arson
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Introduction
Vehicular fires form a large part of insurance claims the world over. It is important to determine the cause of the fire and understand the materials forming the car including the melting points, flash points, ignition temperatures and flammability of the various materials. Hot engine areas are more prone to fires than the cold regions and the extent to which the fire from the two regions spread differs significantly (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 5). Unlike kitchen fire, vehicle fire explodes and cause great damage within a very short period and evidence indicating the cause of the fire will be destroyed within this duration. This paper explores the categorization of vehicular fire, indicators of intentional vehicular fires, accelerants and the investigative methodologies for identifying the accelerants (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 5).
Categories of vehicular fire
Vehicular fire can be categorized as either intentional or accidental fire, gasoline fire or electrical fire.
Intentional fire
A major cause of insurance fraud is deliberately set vehicular fire. Most of the cases have the owner of the car reporting it to be stolen and later found set on fire, with intention of defeating the investigators judgment. The vehicle owner acts and thinks like a thief by altering the ignition system, alarm or anti-theft system, so that anyone can steer the vehicle. The vehicles are usually found abandoned in remote areas and burnt beyond recognition but in rare situations an accelerant can be located for example keys which have been abandoned(Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 5).
Vehicles could also be stolen to be used in a crime scene and later burnt to destroy fingerprints and any other evidence. Moreover, others are stolen for revenge or to cover up a crime and destroy evidence. This kind of fires is not straight forward to investigate because the masterminds are highly professional thieves who rarely steal items from the stolen vehicle. The investigator could therefore wrongly accuse the owner of foul play and deny them their insurance claim (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 5).
Accidental fires
In accidental vehicular fires, prior knowledge of the arrangement of various components and how dense they are is crucial in understanding how fast the fire spreads. The engine compartment is the region most affected by accidental fires, especially those fitted with plastic materials that accelerate the spread of the fire, because of the density of flammable items fitted. In most cases the most burnt area is not necessarily the origin of the fire and investigators must be keen in assessing (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 5). Case in point is when the fire originates from a short in a wire in the harness, which acts as wick to convey the fire to the hydraulic region. The secondary fire will be more intense because it ignites the fluids and spreads rapidly. The causes of vehicle fire include age or normal depreciation, poor maintenance, defective components and well as poor workmanship hence the need for investigators to enquire about the history of the vehicle, its servicing and previous performance of the burnt vehicle (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 9).
Modern vehicles fitted with plastic materials majority of which are thermoplastics melting at approximately 340⁰ F. Beyond this temperatures the plastics melts and the vehicle burn rapidly leaving no evidence as to the cause of the fire. The polyurethane foam is a material fitted in most of modern vehicles in areas such as the dashboard, seats, door panels, headliners and door panels and burns the intensity of gasoline when ignited. The fire quickly spread to other regions in the vehicle (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 15).
Antifreeze fires
Antifreeze fires are caused by leaking of the antifreeze on to hot surfaces of the engine especially in older automobiles (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 19). The antifreeze is very flammable and many investigators are unaware of this fact. It comprises of ethylene glycol mixed with water to raise the boiling point but when the mixture leaks and come into contact with hot surface of the engine, water component evaporates and the boiling point is lowered causes rapid auto-ignition of ethylene glycol and fire results that spread to other parts of the engine. The fires can be confused for intentional fires because of the amount of heat generated and pattern of the burning therefore the investigator must be well versed with the nature of the fire (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 10).
Gasoline fires
Gasoline fires results from faults in carburetor, fuel line connections and fuel injection system. If the feed or return fuel lines are defective and leaking, and no return pulse goes back to the pump, the system shuts down. A fire resulting from this leakage, upon ignition of gasoline vapor by hot surfaces, will not spread because the fuel feed is limited (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 12).
Fires starting in the carburetor region and burn for long periods cause the carburetor to melt with continual supply of fuel. These areas does not have a lot of flammable materials therefore there have to be a continued supply of fuel to maintain the fire and the hood is good indicator of intensity and location of the fire (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 23)
Oil fires
Oil fires occur due to oil leakage from valve covers or in the hot manifold surfaces. The oil auto-ignites at 850⁰F and damage the area around the carburetor although they are uncommon. Brake fluids and power steering fluid burn with great intensity (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 24).
Electrical fires
Electrical fires result from short circuiting of wires in the harness which gets burnt up and since majority are fuse less the fire spreads to other regions (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997).
Indicators of deliberately set vehicular fire
Deliberately set fire occurs when the owner of the vehicle intentionally causes the fire with intentions of defrauding the insurance company (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 29). There are several indicators that investigators can use to detect this kind of fraud. The witnesses may observe the smell of gasoline, rolling flames, bright yellow flames with black smoke, an explosion or low pressure wave and sounds at ignition. In addition, the investigator may observe unnatural fire spread patterns, structural damage that are inconsistent with fire loading, burns in suspect and fire with no clear point of origin (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 79).
The vehicles are mostly found abandoned in very remote areas and burnt beyond recognition (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997). The remote location offers a good site for the complete burning of the vehicle since it cannot be salvaged. In addition, the vehicle ignition system could be tampered with to allow steering of the vehicle by strangers or the ignition system could be defeated to prevent raising an alarm during the act. The vehicles are usually burnt completely and it is very difficult for the investigator to accurately determine the cause of the fire. For fires intended to cover crime nothing is stolen from the vehicle (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 29).
Investigative methodologies involved in identification of accelerants with examples.
Accelerants to vehicular fires include polyurethane foam, ignitable liquids. For vehicular fires for cover up of crime and destruction of evidence, the vehicles are usually fast and new, with varying levels of ignition damage and no item stolen (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 33).
The investigative methodologies used include looking for accelerants container and fingerprints on it, search for plants and remains of ignition device at the scene. Avoid cross contamination emanating from tools, evidence cans, turnout gear or emergency equipment (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 79).
Interview the owner of the vehicle and witnesses to obtain information concerning actual events leading to the fire. The vehicles records should also be perused to determine the history of the vehicle including its servicing and performance prior to the fire (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 88). The art of observation is crucial in determining whether the fire was accidental or intentional. Photos of the residuals of the burnt vehicle must be taking for evidence.
Concerning accelerants, a plant refers a large concentration of the ignitable fluid from which portions of the accelerant are obtained while a trailer is the area where the containers containing the accelerant are disposed after use such as nearby vegetation(Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 90). A booster is a highly explosive substance sufficiently sensitive to low amounts of heat to cause it to explode. A streamer is nozzle used to dispense a solid or fog stream by fire fighters (Redsicker & O’Connor, 1997, p. 97)
References
Redsicker, D., & O’Connor, J. (1997). Practical fire and arson investigation. Boco Raton: CRC Press.