Fire investigations are one of the most complex types of investigations in law enforcement.

Compared to other investigations, it presents additional challenges due to the destruction and alteration
of the natural environment. Here, fire investigators venture into hazardous environments with unstable
structures, heat, smoke, and potential collapse risks to gather evidence and determine the cause of the
fire.

The investigation of fire is one of the more complicated forensic sciences due to the
continuously altered or destroyed evidence by the fire itself. Fire is a highly three-dimensional, time-
variant process with time-variant boundary conditions. The other difficulty for forensic scientists
investigating fires is that the observations of damage after the fire may often times be independent of
the path taken by the fire making it difficult to identify where the fire started. Thus, a fire investigator
must have a solid grasp of the physics and variables that influence a fire’s development, as well as how
these variables may or may not have influenced the damage outcome (Gorbett et al, 2015).

Furthermore, performing rescue operations in building fires is often perceived as a core activity
of fire departments and often has a fundamental impact on staffing and the location of fire stations
(Runefors, M. 2019). As these rescue operations are of utmost responsibility for the fire departments,
concerns arise regarding the safety of the community and the firefighters themselves. Proper fire
investigation should determine the fire cause, the cause of resulting property damage, and most
importantly, the cause of bodily injury or loss of life to civilians and firefighters (Gorbett et al, 2015).

In Sweden, a study shows that during their analysis, it was found that the victims were rescued
either through interior attack or by different types of ladders. Interior attack was performed with or
without a breathing apparatus (BA) depending on the environment in the room. Exterior rescue was
used (or could be used) when the victim reached a window or balcony. Depending on the floor where
the victim was situated, the rescue could be performed with either a manual ladder and/or an aerial
apparatus (Runefors, M. 2019). Emphasizing the different abilities fire fighters must learn to be prepared
in rescue operations.

However, despite the intelligence and capabilities of, not every department is fully equipped
with the right tools, forcing these rescuers to think outside the box to get the job done. The study also
stated that the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) includes information on the vast majority of
incidents in Sweden involving responses by fire departments. Typically, one to five small municipalities
lack the necessary materials. In 2013, two municipalities covering 0.2% of the population were lacking,
resulting in a total coverage of approximately 99.8% of all incident responses. The database includes
variables on whether any individuals have been rescued and how (i.e., manual ladder, aerial apparatus,
or interior rescue) (Runefors, M. 2019).