NCJ Number
138906
Journal
Fire and Arson Investigator Volume: 43 Issue: 1 Dated: (September 1992) Pages: 55-59
Date Published
1992
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article presents the report of an independent investigator called in to investigate the cause of a fire in Jacksonville, Florida, in which a suspect had been charged with arson and murder.
Abstract
The author notes that conclusions were based on an examination of the fire scene on February 1314, 1991; analysis of the reports and photographs submitted on February 5, 1991, and the results of fire tests conducted on March 7, 1991. The investigator concludes that the fire on October 15, 1990 fire began in the living room or living room and hallway of the house. Based on his expert analysis, the author concludes that extensive fire damage to the structure and disruption of the scene rule out conclusive findings as to the exact origin and cause of the fire. Reconstructions of the fire in a similar, abandoned neighboring house to test for accidental and incendiary origins revealed that many of the initial observations could be reproduced by direct flame ignition of a sofa, followed by full development and spread of the fire throughout the structure. The time required for such development could result in the victims' being trapped on the second floor and succumbing to heat and fire gases, but escape would be possible even if the fire were undetected for some 24 minutes after open flame ignition. The observed characteristics of this "accidental" sofa fire did not match the statements made by the suspect in terms of time and sequence. An incendiary fire set with flammable liquids in the living room and hallway would produce a severe fire that would trap residents on the second floor almost immediately and cause their deaths by heat/fire effects in a much shorter time than the "accidental" (sofa) fire. Based on the information available, however, neither cause can be conclusively linked to the fire with reasonable scientific certainty.