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Fast Fires and Hot Fires, July 2020 Blog

Haag Firensics is dedicated to providing the highest-quality forensic investigations of fires and explosions in the industry. Our team of seasoned and court-tested investigators is committed to quickly finding the answers you need through industry-recognized scientific methods. With a thorough understanding of subrogation, liability, and fraud, Firensics makes your job easier by answering all of your questions for O & C investigation and providing technical reports, if requested, within 5 business days for most non-legal residential and auto assignments. The team at Firensics is led by Director of Fire Investigation Services, Ed Roberts, IAAI-CFI– a seasoned fire investigator with over 1,500 fire investigations and 25 years of experience investigating fires.

Fast Fires and Hot Fires
A couple terms that you might hear your fire investigator using, but may not understand precisely what they mean to you and your assignment, are “fast fires” and “hot fires”.
Fast Fires–
You may have heard an investigator or a witness referring to a fire as intentionally set because it was a fast fire. Is this a legitimate conclusion to make? It depends. Natural fire progression should be fairly predictable. If fire growth and spread appear to be at odds with expectations, further analysis may reveal they were “helped” along intentionally. Click the video of a demonstration and further explanation.

Hot Fires–
Another term you might hear your fire investigator using, but may not understand precisely is “hot fires.” This term has been used in the past as a justification for a fire cause being classified as incendiary. For example, “We know it was intentionally set because it was a hot fire.”
But is that true? Are incendiary fires especially hot? Is there any validity to the claim that set fires are hot fires? Click below for more information.

 

Edward G. Roberts, IAAI-CFI, Director of Fire Investigation Services

As founder of Firensics, I combine my lifelong experience and training in fire investigations with the training I received as an adjuster to create an approach to fire investigation and report product that best serves your needs through quick response time, clarity, and ease of use. As a member of a number of professional organizations, I am actively and constantly working to improve the industry of fire investigation.

  • IAAI-CFI, CFEI, CVFI, CFII
  • 1500+ fire and explosion origin and cause investigations
  • Court-proven and reliable, including mediation, arbitration, and depositions
  • Published internationally
  • Obtain recorded statements
  • Provide educational programs to insurance and investigation communities

Any opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of Haag Engineering Co., Haag Construction Consulting, Haag Education, or parent company, Haag Global, Inc.

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