Fire scene examination

Sub-specialties: None

Fire scene examiners are experienced scene examiners who specialise in scenes involving fires and explosions.

They have an understanding of the principles of fire science and the behaviour of materials under fire conditions. They make methodical observations of security aspects and damage patterns at fire scenes, systematically using notes and photographs to make a full record. The emphasis is on observing, identifying, recording and preserving the scene of the incident with minimal disturbance to the scene.

Practitioners may form a preliminary view on the cause of a fire but will generally call upon additional expertise where evaluation is required for court purposes.

Note: Also working in this field are scientists and engineers. We distinguish between the investigative stages in this specialty and the evaluative stage, which forms the separate specialty of Incident evaluation under the Science & Engineering Sector.


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