Computer Causes House Fire

[txdon]

"I don't think it is amazing I think it is pure BS. Building totally destroyed." - midlf

It's not BS. It is amazing. Most times even right!

Fire Investigation has evolved just like everything else. There are two walls standing and there is a lot of information that can be gained from the "Rubble". Even electrical parts can be x-rayed to see if the heat damage came from the inside or outside. There is a lot of elimination to be done in these types of investigation: smoking, candles, electrical, arson, lightening, all heating and electrical appliances, etc....

All the burn patters must match the area of origin, or be explaind why they do not.

Each piece of burned structural members can be examined to determine which is burned or charred more and the same with each piece of contents. These bits of information can be put together to show a road map to the area that burned the longest and the hottest. This will usually be the area of origin. Of course even the road maps will still have detours in it like ventilation sources (windows) and false low burns (drop down), and firefighter tactics. The pieces of melted metal and glass can also show which way the fire was traveling.

I'm sure a lot of documentation pictures and evidence was gathered during the investigation which the Investigator will have to explain to a jury (like yourself) or in a deposition, when the Insurance company sues Dell.

 

[BTDT]

Computer was probably left on while looking at TBN thread about "will it take off", and it just couldn't keep up any longer. But seriously, it's amazing what they can do now days, reconstructing an airliner to determine how it crashed, some of the forensics done in law enforcement, etc. Sorry that the house was lost, but if mine burned down and it was due to something faulty, I think I would want to know. I have heard that Dell is outsourcing a lot of their stuff, maybe the battery thing was part of it.

 

[bmac]

The investigator did use some kind of electronic equipment to "scan" the ruins and, based upon upon the readings he got from that, determined the precise cause. That is a simplistic description. I don't think he made his conclusion on the spot. Rather, my understanding is that he returned a report following analysis of the data gathered visually and electronically. But I don't think it took more than a day or two.

 

[midlf]

"I don't think it is amazing I think it is pure BS. Building totally destroyed." - midlf

It's not BS. It is amazing. Most times even right!

Fire Investigation has evolved just like everything else. There are two walls standing and there is a lot of information that can be gained from the "Rubble". Even electrical parts can be x-rayed to see if the heat damage came from the inside or outside. There is a lot of elimination to be done in these types of investigation: smoking, candles, electrical, arson, lightening, all heating and electrical appliances, etc....

All the burn patters must match the area of origin, or be explained why they do not.

Each piece of burned structural members can be examined to determine which is burned or charred more and the same with each piece of contents. These bits of information can be put together to show a road map to the area that burned the longest and the hottest. This will usually be the area of origin. Of course even the road maps will still have detours in it like ventilation sources (windows) and false low burns (drop down), and firefighter tactics. The pieces of melted metal and glass can also show which way the fire was traveling.

I'm sure a lot of documentation pictures and evidence was gathered during the investigation which the Investigator will have to explain to a jury (like yourself) or in a deposition, when the Insurance company sues Dell.

TXDON - I don't doubt that it can be done, after all I watch CSI. I just doubt it would be done in the instance described. If it was a capital arson case then yeah, lots of investigation. House burned down, no suspicion of arson then I have doubts about the depth of the investigation in that circumstance. Later posts by bmac mention some electronic equipment. I would be very interested to learn more about this. Perhaps current practice exceeds that shown on CSI. (please note: CSI references are strictly for grins.)

 

[txdon]

Midlf, where do you think CSI writers get their ideas from?

However, I have never heard of any electronic equipment to "scan" the ruins which one could determined the precise cause. bmac any chance you could get a little more info on the scanner? I'm intrigued and skeptical.

 

[Dusty]

I believe that it is a form of Gas Chromatography. Don't know enough about it to go into detail, but I do know that they use it in arson investigations. I have a friend that works for the State Police as a arson investigator. His partner is a German Shepard. The dogs job is to look for accelerants. He is an excellent investigator that works for food and shelter.
Dusty

 

[BTDT]

I believe that it is a form of Gas Chromatography. Don't know enough about it to go into detail, but I do know that they use it in arson investigations. I have a friend that works for the State Police as a arson investigator. His partner is a German Shepard. The dogs job is to look for accelerants. He is an excellent investigator that works for food and shelter.
Dusty

Food and shelter?? That's the same reason I work!! I guess it's a dogs' world after all.

 

[txdon]

I believe that it is a form of Gas Chromatography. Don't know enough about it to go into detail, but I do know that they use it in arson investigations. I have a friend that works for the State Police as a arson investigator. His partner is a German Shepard. The dogs job is to look for accelerants. He is an excellent investigator that works for food and shelter.
Dusty

Dusty the Gas Chromatography is run on sample to detect the kind of Hydrocarbons present (gasoline, charcoal lighter fluid, diesel etc...). Samples (a piece of wood, carpet etc.) are collected, canned and sent to the lab for the test. The dog helps to locate where to get the sample from along with burn patters. This will only rule in or out an ignitable liquid use as an accelerant usually by an arsonist. If none are found it does not help determine the cause.

 

[bmac]

I'll double check on the electronic thingy. I may have misunderstood. We are hardly in an area of high-tech wizardry here. Maybe he was using some cutting edge device like a digital camera. I'll see what I can dig up.

 

[SkyPup]

I always keep a fire resistant ceramic plate underneath my Dell E-1705 laptop, just in case, even though my battery has not been on the recall list.

When lithium polymer batteries short out they create absolutely tremendous heat...