NFPA, Quincy, MA, pp 3.1253.133, Quintiere J, McCaffrey B (1980) The Burning of Wood and Plastic Cribs in an Enclosure. (2013) conducted a series of compartment fire tests with ignitable liquids poured and evaluated the persistence of such a pattern through a compartment fire. The tool is built around a digital indicator gauge commonly used in machining. Assessing the historical and current semantics of the fire investigation literature, the use of fire patterns to determine an area of origin, for purposes of the current paper, can be grouped into four areas of literature that need to be reviewed, including: Assessing the varying degrees of fire damage (DOFD) along the surfaces of the compartment and contents (i.e. ceiling). This combination of using damage in the context of the fire behavior variables was new to the profession in 1955, but then apparently lost for the next 40years. One recommendation called for those forensic science disciplines that rely on human interpretation to adopt procedures and performance standards that guard against bias and error (NIJ 2009). In over 40% of the fire pattern tests, level lines of demarcation attributed to this damage was identified. As such, fire investigators have written about the use of visible and measurable observations related to varying damage to wood for as long as fire investigation has been in existence (Rethoret 1945). Figure 1 is a schematic representation of how such a pattern is created, and Figure 2 shows a triangle-shaped pattern produced by a test fire. As the combustion zone is not attached to a fuel item or fuel package any longer, it becomes more difficult for the fire investigator to evaluate whether the damage was caused by a flame plume burning attached to a fuel item or if it is the UHCs burning detached from a fuel item due to ventilation-controlled conditions. Self-published, California (USA), Stratakis G, Stamatelos A (2003) Thermogravimetric analysis of soot emitted by a modern diesel engine run on catalyst-doped fuel. The term or similar terms were later defined in subsequent texts as where the fires destruction took place and where it did not (DeHaan 1983). Fire Technology 49:395409, Saito K (1993) Study of Fire Induced Flow Along the Vertical Corner Wall. Interscience Communications, London (UK), Meacham B (2000) Application of a Decision-Support Tool for Comparing and Ranking Risk Factors for Incorporation into Performance-Based Building Regulations. Fire Protection Research Foundation, Quincy, MA, NFPA (2004) NFPA 921-Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigation. 1997; Gorbett et al. Comparing Delichatsioss (1984) simple correlation of flame height for wall fires to the average damage height identified in Madrzykowskis study shows that the calculated flame height under-predicted the damage height by approximately 711% for the natural gas burner and gasoline fires. For more information on this term, see the interFIRE VR Resource File . The surface then redirects the buoyant flow and its momentum across the bottom of the ceiling creating a ceiling jet, which begins to descend from the ceiling as an upper layer (Hicks et al. In the mid-1980s there began a trend in the literature that spoke out against this misconception and began to provide a list of alternative explanations of damage to the floor (DeHaan 1983; Taylor 1985; Taylor 1986; DeHaan 1987; Eaton 1987; Wood et al. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, MATH (1997)) contends that the source of available fresh air from adjacent spaces will have a significant influence on whether or not the ventilation-generated patterns are prevalent with such magnitude. The damage data used by fire investigators in origin determination starts with the ability of the investigator to observe varying damage along surfaces of contents, walls, ceiling, floor and structural members. by 11ft, 9in. Many of the studies contend that this process assists investigators in determining the correct area of origin (Shanley et al. Clean burn damage located on the wall opposite of the door opening (not at the area of origin) extended from the floor to the ceiling and had an approximate 6-foot base. He succinctly describes his process as direction of spread of the fire will be notedit will be upward, partially lateral, rarely downward, but its direction will indicate the general region of origin when properly interpreted. The current definition for fire patterns is the visible or measurable physical changes, or identifiable shapes, formed by a fire effect or group of fire effects (NFPA 2014). Learn. Fire and Arson Investigator Journal of the International Association of Arson Investigators 32:8184, Crofton, MD, Fitch R, Porter E (1968) Accidental or Incendiary. Dissertation, University of Canterbury, NIJ (2009) Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward. (2013) developed a constant force depth of calcination tool to eliminate inconsistencies in depth of calcination measurements to provide a more practical application of the tool based on the Ngu (2004) and Mealy (2013) studies. The degree to which materials are influenced by the developing fire will be a function of the material characteristics, temperature of the products of combustion and the duration of exposure (NFPA 2014). The fire pattern studies revealed that the upper layer damage is very difficult to identify after the fire has transitioned into ventilation-controlled conditions. The authors do not, however, indicate how, provided this information, an investigator arrives at a conclusion. 2003). The ventilation opening was located in the wall opposite of this furniture. The next identified process was promulgated by John Kennedy in 1962 and was termed the Pointer or Arrow Theory (Kennedy 1959). Fire and Arson Investigator Journal of the International Association of Arson Investigators 64(1):3747, Custer R, Wright C (1984) Open Windows and Thermal Inversions may Complicate a Fire Investigation. These tests evaluated many aspects of fire investigations, including the presence of ignitable liquid residue after extinguishment, fire patterns, depth of calcination and the fire dynamics of an under-ventilated compartment. First, during fuel-controlled conditions ventilation has been shown to cause the fire plume to lean away from the source of ventilation due to momentum flows from the inflow, thus influencing the truncated cone shape (Shanley et al. National Fire Protection Association, Quincy (USA), NFPA (2008) NFPA 921-Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigation. Mealy et al. 2008; Hopkins et al. FIRE PATTERNS. Additional comparison and control samples were generated using ignitable liquid pours that achieved post-flashover conditions without use of the burner, but with the burner in place to maintain test consistency. The DOFD as outlined in this article never received any traction within the community and has never been picked up in any other literature (Figs. The Mealy study (2013) indicated that a variance on the depth measurements, regardless of the user, was negligible (~10% variance) and that the method worked at reliably indicating fire travel, especially when no visible observations could be made. truncated cone patterns. The other misconception stated that if the pattern had a wide base and resembled an inverted cone, then it was started with a liquid fuel (Barracato 1979). 2023 BioMed Central Ltd unless otherwise stated. As explained in this method, the two-dimensional shapes and patterns would be formed by the overall three-dimensional plume as it intersected these surfaces resulting in V-shape and U-shape patterns on walls, contents and vertical structural member and Radial-shaped patterns on the ceiling and horizontal obstructions. In this study, experimental samples of gypsum wallboard were exposed to various heat fluxes at varying durations using the ASTM E1354, Cone Calorimeter radiant heater. Truncated cone fire patterns have been found in over 50% of all fire pattern tests. California Privacy Statement, It is suggested from this literature review that the overall reasoning process for evaluating fire damage for determining an area of origin consists of the following seven steps (Gorbett 2015): Identifying the value in further analysis of a surface or compartment; Identification of the varying degrees of fire damage (DOFD) along the surfaces of the compartment and contents; Identifying clusters and trends of damage (fire patterns); Interpreting the causal factors for the generation of the fire patterns; Testing the hypothetical area(s) of origin; and. Quintiere and McCaffrey (1980) showed that near-opening mixing associated with the cold, incoming air flow entraining the hot gas is an issue that would be a potential cause for near-to or adjacent damage occurring on surfaces next to ventilation openings. The forces bearing on the fire were identified in this text as (a) combustibles involved, (b) openings and ventilation, (c) winds and drafts, (d) explosions and (e) variations from normal burning. (2006; 2008) conducted a fire pattern reproducibility study using single fuel items. 2003; Carman 2008; Carman 2010; Tinsley and Gorbett 2013) (Fig. Fire and Materials 5(3):130141, Thomas I, Bennets I (1999) Fires in Enclosures with Single Ventilation Openings Comparison of Long and Wide Enclosure, Fire Safety Science Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium, Thomas P, Heslden J (1972) Fully Developed Fires in Single Compartments, A Co-operative Research Program of the Conseil International du Batimen (CIB Report No. For example, the clean burn effect requires wall temperatures to reach approximately 450500C and should be evaluated as possibly exposed to a plume (Stratakis and Stamatelos 2003). Fire and Arson Investigator Journal of the International Association of Arson Investigators 64(3):1625, Clemen R, Reilly T (2001) Making Hard Decisions. [2] These results support the use of standardized processes to decrease the variability in data collection and interpretation. Wall condition on the four sides of a room may differ and thus indicate where most heat was applied (Straeter and Crawford 1955). The concept of fire patterns for this review has been broken into four components that better assist in evaluating their effectiveness in determining an area of origin. The three tests were conducted with identical contents and ventilation. The rooms were instrumented with heat flux gauges, thermocouples and gas sampling probes. 2008). This misconception was dispelled in the first edition of NFPA 921 and is not prevalent within the current profession (Bieber 2014). fire patterns) in an attempt to reconstruct the fires development. 2013). Fire investigators describe this consistent damage to tops of contents as radiant heat damage being caused by the upper layer. Many of the studies discuss the production of unburned hydrocarbons (UHCs) during under-ventilated conditions that result in unburned fuel filling the compartment and undergoing combustion only where sufficient UHC concentrations encounter sufficient oxygen (Beyler 1986; Utiskul and Quintiere (2005); Utiskul 2007; Thomas and Bennets 1999). A fundamental principle of decision analysis is that people do not always have all the data or information needed to make a good decision. Wood and gypsum wallboard (drywall) were the only materials that had sufficient literature to review in this context. Most recent studies consider taking the actual depth of calcination by using an instrument and probing it into the wall a more effective method (Mann and Putaansuu, 2010; Mealy and Gottuk, 2012; Kennedy et al. Such data include the patterns produced by the fire (NFPA 2014). 2003). In 2009, Wolfe, Mealy and Gottuk conducted 15 full-scale tests with varying ventilation conditions and fuels. soot), and gaseous byproducts, including carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), oxygen (O2), steam (H2O vapor), and unburned hydrocarbons (UHC). National Institute of Justice, Report 60197, Washington D.C. (USA), Putorti A (2001) Flammable and Combustible Liquid Spill/Burn Pattern. NIJ Grant No. Test. 6, 4th edn. He contends that damage should just be viewed as data and the investigator must resist the temptation to interpret the meaning of individual fire effects and fire patterns in isolation (Cox 2013). Although, Shanley et al. Fire Science Reviews In a compartment fire, the highest temperatures are present at those locations where flaming combustion is occurring. This is the reason that many fire investigation texts commonly refer to fire moving up and outward (DeHaan and Icove 2011; Kennedy 1959; Kennedy (1977); Kirk 1969; Rethoret 1945). Several studies concerning ventilation-controlled fires throughout the years have introduced a concept of a ventilation factor (\( {A}_v\sqrt{h_v} \)) and illustrated the importance of ventilation openings on a fires growth by analyzing the size of ventilation openings, locations of these openings within the compartment and the shear mixing that occurs at the interface of the opening (Kawagoe 1958; Thomas and Heslden 1972; Harmathy 1972; Thomas and Bennets 1999; Utiskul 2007; Sugawa et al. The final two tests were performed after multiple television sets and electronic appliances were placed on wood stands and on the floor in a burn room containing an upholstered chair and area rugboth of these tests were allowed to progress into full-room involvement and were not extinguished until 4min past flashover (Hoffmann et al. 1997). The profession requires new research to span the gaps identified within each sub process. This section focuses on the literature that exists for fire patterns. National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST-GCR-98-756, Gaithersburg, MD, Donegan H (2008) Decision Analysis. Fire Clues: Heat Shadows - Occur when heavy furniture shields part of a wall; can help determine the origin point. While much of the research was based more on the tenability limits and associated dynamics in under-ventilated fires, they reported on a few forensic-based conclusions. The fuels used for their experiments included a natural gas burner, gasoline pool fire and polyurethane foam. The compartments were of frame construction with unfinished wood lining the interior of the compartment. The chapter on fire patterns underwent reorganization between the 20042008 editions to divide fire effects and fire patterns. Soot deposited in rooms away from the room of origin have a fairly uniform soot deposition on all surfaces extending from floor to ceiling (Wolfe et al. Hicks et al. The resulting damage appears to be angled lines of demarcation with the lower end of the line of demarcation being nearest the source of the smoke flow (Fig. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Heat and Mass Transfer in Fire and Combustion Systems, HTD 223:1119, Abib A, Jaluria Y (1992b) Penetrative convection in a partially open enclosure. Mass loss of the furniture items was measured at the end of each test and was showed to relate well to the area of origin. Correspondingly, this heat source is often attributed to igniting contents throughout the compartment, especially those items located relatively high in elevation around the compartment (e.g. In the early days of fire investigations a common rule among fire investigators was that the visible observation of large shiny blisters of wood char indicated fast fires and that small dull blisters indicated a slower fire, which assisted investigators to conclude that a fire was incendiary or not (Boudreau et al. Characteristics of the damage linked with ventilation-generated patterns during ventilation-controlled conditions are large surface areas of damage, increased magnitude of damage, damage found near unsealed drywall seams and angled lines of demarcation located around the ventilation opening or directly opposite of a door opening. 2004). Examples of Fire Patterns: "Inverted Cone". gtuSLH{2lF>u;yQ2J)@p"cZLL#u9z}.AnwFA?kRr}8F&tr d{Dy{{ \|u)(pV W The characteristics that are proposed here include the type, magnitude, direction and proximity (e.g. Thermocouple data and total heat flux gauges were used as instrumentation for all three burns. Investigators use the varying heights and direction of the lines of demarcation as indicative of directional flow. In fact, a recent sentinel event analysis of wrongful convictions found that this one misconception is the most common factor in wrongful arson convictions (Bieber 2014). As such, fire origin determination is largely a matter of fire pattern recognition and interpretation (NFPA 2014). There are numerous factors that may influence how a material is affected by heat and exposure to incomplete combustion products (e.g. Reprinted with permission from the author. The ventilation opening was varied throughout the test between a slit vent (2m0.2m) and the full door opening (2m0.9m). Given the history of using fire patterns within the fire investigation profession, it was reasonable that they would also be included in the first edition (1992), and all subsequent editions of NFPA 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations. Match. Prominent forensic scientist, Paul Kirk (1969), wrote in support of using depth of char for fire investigation in the following, variations in depth of the char will inevitably be notedand that this feature of the fire is of primary importance. Fire plume generated fire patterns are the most important to identify correctly. 12). Also, the lines of demarcation are not parallel to the floor, but are at an angle representing the buoyant flow, usually with characteristic geometric shapes. Duxbury, California (USA), Cooke R, Ide R (1985) Principles of Fire Investigation. Surface effect is the result of the nature and material of the surface which contains the fire pattern, affecting the actual shape of the lines of demarcation displayed, or increasing Only one article was identified related to the use of visible char appearance in identifying varying DOFD where quantitative measures were attempted (Keith and Smith 1984). However, this area of damage was not identified in comparison studies performed in acquired structures where the opening was connected to an adjacent compartment within the house. The literature review of fire pattern usage in the fire investigation profession illustrates several gaps with the overall process of using damage to determine an area of origin. 2008). NFPA 921s original definition stated fire patterns are the physical effects that are visible or measurable remaining after a fireincluding thermal effects on materials, such as charring, oxidation, consumption of combustibles, smoke and soot deposits, distortion, melting, color changes, changes in the character of materials, structural collapse and other effects (NFPA 1992). Title: FIRE PATTERNS. Wood stud wall with varying DOFD char damage, Depth of char contour plot of wood stud wall depicted in Fig. The most emphasis was placed on combustibles involved and openings and ventilation. NFPA (2014) refers to this as fire pattern generation and provides a list of them including plume-generated, ventilation-generated, hot gas layer-generated and suppression-generated. If the burning fuel package is located away from the witness surface, the resulting fire pattern is shaped as a "U", As a result, the observations are typically qualitative in nature. However, the visible and measurable observations used in identifying the varying degree of charring have had many misconceptions. In fact, Kirk was very adamant that investigators should not conclude that the damage was from an ignitable liquid as such an interpretation was more often incorrect than otherwise (Kirk 1969). The origin matrix provides the user a diagram of the compartment of interest, where the user is to shade in those portions of the diagram where damage is identified and then this damage is to be compared to expected damage based on the predicted damage from the ventilation openings. Characteristics distilled from the literature related that the ULG patterns will have level lines of demarcation with relatively uniform magnitude of damage, unless the upper layer is flowing from one location to another and, if so, the lines of demarcation will be angled towards the opening. A short list of material properties that may also influence the effects of a material exposed to a fire environment includes: moisture content, thermal conductivity, density, specific heat, critical heat flux, ignition and flame spread propensity and heat of gasification/vaporization (NFPA 2014). 2012). A survey was conducted to evaluate the proficiency of professional fire investigators at determining the area of origin when provided with photographs and measurable data from a test (Tinsley and Gorbett 2013). Combustion and Flame 132:157159, Pennsylvania (USA), Sugawa O, Kawagoe K, Oka K, Ogahara I (1989) Burning behavior in a poorly ventilated compartment fire ghosting fire. Mann and Putaansuu (2010) exposed samples of gypsum wallboard to three levels of heat flux for three different durations and noted visible changes, as well as depth of calcination changes with a variety of probing instruments. This same damage near the drywall seams was identified in the Claflin study (2014) (Fig. A number of those investigators have taken very little additional training since their basic training and, of those, some do not recognize how flawed their early training was or the impact of how the lack of training regarding current techniques influences their conclusions. The greater the distance between the base of the plume and the surface of the wall or content surface will result in a substantially decreased heat flux to the surface (Qian and Saito 1992). This study also noted that it was evident that the water did not wash all of the deposited material away from the wall or ceiling surface because the patterns had a color which was lighter than the surrounding area but not as light as a clean burn or protected area (Shanley et al. The amount of soot deposited is dependent greatly on the thermophoretic forces and by soot losses throughout the building (Riahi and Beyler 2011; Riahi 2012; Riahi et al. However, ventilation becomes one of the more prominent influences of damage when the compartment has transitioned into ventilation-controlled conditions. The majority of this review is of North American work. More recent research has identified heat flux values between 25 and 50kW/m2 reported at 1m away from more modern fuel packages, including king size mattresses, upholstered chairs and sleeper sofas (Madrzykowski and Kerber 2009). The natural convection drives air out of the compartment creating a lower pressure for inflow to be driven from gravity flows or can also be influenced by wind or other mechanically induced flows (e.g. Varying degree of fire damage to gypsum wallboard-visible damage results, Varying degree of fire damage to gypsum wallboard-contour plot of the depth of calcination results of Fig. Department of Fire Protection Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA, Gregory E Gorbett,Brian J Meacham,Christopher B Wood&Nicholas A Dembsey, Department of Fire Protection and Paramedicine Sciences, Fire, Arson and Explosion Investigation Program, Eastern Kentucky University, 521 Lancaster Avenue, Richmond, KY, 40475, USA, FireLink, LLC, 1501 Main Street, Suite 17, Tewksbury, MA, 01876, USA, You can also search for this author in https://doi.org/10.1186/s40038-015-0008-4, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40038-015-0008-4. Proximity requires that the varying fire effects be within the same vicinity to each other. Smoke consists of liquid aerosols, solid particulates (i.e. Another series of full-scale fire tests was conducted with funding provided by the National Institute of Justice (Putorti 1997). An upholstered sofa and upholstered chair were located in adjacent corners across the room from each other with a coffee table in between. Dissertation, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Gorbett G, Chapdelaine W (2014) Scientific Method Use, Application and Gap Analysis for Origin Determination. The Posey study reported that an investigator could visibly identify subtle color changes in individually cut cross-sections of the wallboard and prescribe the DOFD associated with the color changes. There are only two studies that have focused solely on the geometric shapes from plumes (Hicks et al. However, Schroeders study did not produce an effective means for implementing this method into a scene inspection. Items were scorched at distances greater than 0.191.2m depending on the material and heat source. A two-dimensional fire pattern is expected to form on the vertical surface interface (i.e. 7, 8 and 9). National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Technical Note 1618, Maryland (USA), Mann D, Putaansuu N (2009) Studies of the Dehydration/Calcination of Gypsum Wallboard. The influences of the U-shaped exterior wall geometry on upward flame spread over insulation material on plain and plateau were studied through laboratory-scale experiments. The walls and ceiling were lined with gypsum wallboard. Source: Guide to Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination, PMS 412. Fire Safety Journal 38:709745, Lentini J (2012) Scientific Protocols for Fire Investigation. 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