ABSTRACT
One triggering factor was a new analytical technique that was just becoming commercially available, gas chromatography (GC). Although the earliest GC sensors were not nearly as sensitive as those that became available over the following few years, they nevertheless were adequate for most of the fire debris samples received. The fire investigators were excited by this new fire investigation process and were relieved to have something a bit more scientific than Josh Rogers's nose to take to court. While individual fires can present very complex challenges and may destroy any evidence of how and where they started, the principles of fire investigation are based on the laws of physics; heat transfers by radiation, convection, and conduction. Application of these principles can help enormously in understanding how a fire progressed. Thinking intuitively rather than scientifically, they would bet that the fire would follow the gasoline and burn down the stairs.
