ABSTRACT
With the legal system demanding ever-increasing levels of sophistication in the analysis of fire evidence, the fire investigation laboratory is now required to perform all kinds of examinations and experiments beyond the detection of ignitable liquid residues. The tests routinely conducted in the modern forensic laboratory with respect to fire evidence break down generally into two categories: (1) the examination of physical evidence and (2) the testing of fire scenarios. As with other aspects of fire investigation, this phase of the investigation requires planning, cooperation among various parties, the involvement of several technical disciplines, and a written protocol. At this stage of the investigation, documentation is as important as ever, particularly when technical experts representing different parties get together to perform joint inspections, and the destructive disassembly of items of evidence is necessary. Inspections lasting 2 or 3 days, involving up to ten experts (with five or ten lawyers standing off to the side) are not uncommon in fires involving multi-million-dollar losses or the loss of life. This chapter deals with what happens to the evidence after it has been identified at the fire scene and taken to a laboratory for further inspection.
