Fire Technology and

Arson Investigation
 Introduction
 The incidence of fire/ fires suspected to be arson always on the run fire incidence is common occurrence in
any place wherever you are, wherever you stay. There was an adage that “ Its better to be a victim of robbers
than to become a victim of a fire”,
Why?
 because they will only get the things that can only bring, but if the fire will attack they will destroy all your
property and everything even life will lost or turn into ashes”,
what is the similarity of these two?
 the only similarity of these two they both attack without your knowledge or they will attack anytime or any
day.
 Historically Speaking…. Fire is very important in all walks of life of the human race because of its natural
uses. Fire incidence has been increasing over the past years both numbers and percentage of all fires. Most
often, fire incidence is always occurred in the place on where the informal settlers are commonly coverage to a
certain place. Most of the time the causes of the incidence of fire is electrical short circuit or bitterly known as
Faulty Wiring.
 Technically Speaking….. Faulty electrical wiring causes of fire is correct but logically this term is not a right
term because when we say faulty electrical wiring causes, it means that during the construction of the
building or house the electrical technician installed the house wiring connection when he test or tried this in
order to determine if the said wiring connections is correct but it explodes or it turns into short circuit, this is
called as faulty wiring.
but if the said wiring installation or house wiring connection was already checked or inspected by the
representative of the electrical power provider approve the application. Therefore, this wiring connection is
properly correct. But if the time come the said building was burned due to cause of wiring connection then this is
not a cause of faulty wiring connection. In short the right term to be used is electrical short circuit or overloading
of electrical power connection.
 Early Years of Organized Firefighting
 ROME
The first Roman fire brigade was a grouped of slaves who were hired by Marcus Ignatius Rufus. Augustus
took this idea from RUFUS and then, built on it to form the vigils in 6 A.D. to combat fires using buckets and
pumps, as well as poles and hooks to tear down buildings in advance of the flames. The vigils patrolled the
streets of Rome to watch for fires and served the police force.
 1966 United kingdom (the great Fire of London) started in baker’s shop in pudding lane, which consumed
about 2 square miles (5 square kilometers) of the city, leaving tens thousand homeless, prior to this fire,
London had no organized fire protection system. Afterwards insurance companies formed private fire
brigades the company insured. These buildings were identified through fire insurance marks. This was a
turning point in the fire service.
 Hans Hautsh – A German inventor who improved the manual pump by creating the first suction and force
pump and adding some flexible hoses to the pump.
 Jan Van Der Heyden – A Dutch inventor who invented the fire hose in 1672. Constructed from flexible leather
and coupled every 50 feet (15 meters) with brass fittings, the length and connections remained the standard up
to this day.
 Richard Newsham – A native of London further developed the fire engine in 1725, pulled as a cart to the fire
scene, these manual pumps were manned by teams of men and could deliver up to 160 gallons per minutes at
up to 120 feet (40 meters).
 Governor John Winthrop – Bostons Governor who outlawed wooded chimneys and thatched roofs in 1631.
 Governor Peter Stuvvesant – New Amsterdam Governor who in 1648, appointed four men to act as fire
wardens; they were empowered to inspect all chimneys and to fine any violators of the rules. The City
burghers later appointed eight prominent citizens to the Rattle Watch, these men volunteered tom patrol the
streets at night carrying large wooden rattles. If fire were seen the men spun(spin) the rattles the directs the
responding citizens to form bucket brigades.
 Other Events and Personalities Significance to fire Service

 Bucket Brigade – first known fire fighting unit organized thousands of years B.C
 Dr. Nicolas Barton – underwrote the first insurance policy and organized the first known fire department.
 Paul Hodge – designed and built the first steam-powered fire engine in New York in 1840.
 Moses Latta – built fire engines in 1852 that was successfully put into service during the Cincinnati, Ohio fire
on January 01, 1853.
 National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) - organized in 1896 to set standards on fire prevention and fire
fighting procedures.
 Great Triangle fire- occurred in1911 in New York which led to the adoption and promulgation of fire code.
 Regimen De Pompier – Fire fighting unit organized in France during the first World War.
 Manila Fire Department – First organized fire department in the Philippines, established on August 6, 1901
with Captain F.R Hodge as it first fire chief.
 Captain Jacinto Lorenzo – First Filipino who was appointed as fire chief on October 19, 1935 before the
inauguration of the Philippine Commonwealth Government. He also reduced the schedule of duties of firemen
from 4 straight days service with 7 hours day off and 15 hours night off to 48 hours duty and 24 hours off
duty.
 Presidential Decree 765 – signed on August 8, 1975 by then Pres. Marcos establishing the Integrated National
Police (INP) integrating all local police and fire forces into one national organization.
 Presidential Decree 1185 – the first known fire code of the Philippines, signed into law by then Pres. Marcos
on August 26, 1977.
 National Fire Service Council – created by Juan Ponce Enrile who was a Minister of defense at the time; the
council recommended the establishment of a national training center for the fire service.
 National Fire Service Training Center (NFSTC) – established on October 1, 1979 with Fcol. Jose V. Cajipe as
the first training commandant; now known as the Fire National Training Institute (FNTI).
 Investigative aspect of fire behavior
 Since common causes of fire is always an accidental fire but in the field of fire investigation this causes is
always considered but it needs an in-depth investigation so that the said alleged causes will be proved after
the fire investigation conducted by the fire personnel.
Arson is the crime of deliberately setting fire to others property for fraudulent or malicious purposes.
Same with the other common crimes, the purpose or the motive is more important to establish.
Like for instance, a farmer may intentionally set fire to a pile of leaves or grass in his farmyard but the
was accidentally spread to the adjoining lot and burned some fruit bearing trees. The act or the motive of the
farmer is only to get rid the grass or the leaves and he have no intention to disturbed other property. Therefore,
his act doesn’t considered as a crime of arson. But if he has a deliberate intent to set a fire because of his
jealousy to his neighbor then, he will possibly charge of a crime of Arson.
 An investigation of fire is fundamentally a search for an information regarding the real causes of fire, the fire
investigator presume on where and how the fire started and then categories as;
 Natural
 Accidental
 Arson
most common techniques is;
1. questioning techniques;
use to determine what the occupants and other witnesses might know about the fires.
2. Examination or Observation techniques;
the fire investigator use this type of techniques to closely observe or examine the fire structure and its
surrounding for a possible signs of clues on what took place.
The fire itself is responsible for the majority of these clues and that is the fire travel or the transmission of
fire will give an indication of where the fire originate or stated to look or to find this fire investigator must use his
knowledge on fire science and fire behavior and other factors that affect its ignition, growth, and the spread of
fire.
 History
 When cavemen learned to make and use fire, they could start to live in civilized ways. With fire, they were
able to cook their food so that it was easier to eat and tasted better. By the light to torches, me could more
easily find their way at night. They could also improve their wooden tools by hardening the points in fire.
With fire to keep them warm, they could live in the colder regions and spread out over the Earth.
 It is supposed that early people got fire accidentally from trees set ablaze by lightning or from spouting
volcanoes. Then they carefully kept it burning I huts or caves. As far back as the study has gone, primitive
peoples have never been found without fire for warmth and cooking. Fire also protected them from wild
beasts.
 In time people discovered how to create fire by rubbing dry sticks together. Then they invented bow drills to
aid the process. When they began to chip flint to make axes, they found that hot sparks came from the stone.
From this they later developed the flint-and steel method of fire making. Later it was found that fire could be
made by focusing the sun rays with a lens or curved mirror.
 People remained ignorant of the true character of fire until 1783. in that year the great French Chemist
Antoine Lavoisier investigated the properties of oxygen and laid the foundation of modern chemistry.
 Lavoisier showed that ordinary fire is due to the chemical process called OXIDATION, which is the
combination of a substance with oxygen. He disproved the earlier “phlogiston theory”.
 “phlogiston theory” held that when an object was heated or cooled it was due to a mysterious
substance(phlogiston) that flowed into or out of the object in question.
 Since fires are due to oxidation, they need air to burn properly, and a flame will go out after it has used up
the oxygen in a closed vessel. Almost anything will combine with oxygen if enough time is allowed. Iron
will rust if exposed long to damp air, and the rust is simply an oxidized iron. When the chemical
combination is so rapid that it is accompanied by FLAME, it is called COMBUSTION.
 chemistry of fire
 Technology – is a branch of knowledge that deals with industrial arts and
sciences. It is the application of such knowledge that is used to produce the
material necessities to society.
 Chemistry – is that branch of science which deals with the study of
composition of matter, changes they undergo, energy involved in a given
change and conditions necessary to bring about changes in matter.
 Atom – is a fundamental particle of matter. It is the smallest particle of an
element that takes part in a chemical reaction and cannot be further
subdivided by an ordinary physical and chemical means.
The structure of the atom is conceived to be made of central core known as
Nucleus that contains Proton which is positively charged and neutron which has no
charge. Surrounding the nucleus are the principal energy levels where electrons,
which are negatively charge, travel the orbit.
 Elements – are pure substances made up of only one l=kind of atom.
metallic elements are good conductors of heat and electricity but non-metallic elements are either poor or
non-conductor of heat and electricity.
 Molecules – are combinations of two or more atoms.
example: may be homonuclear, which means, it consists of atoms of one chemical element, as with
oxygen (O2); or it may be heteronuclear, a chemical compound composed of more than one element, as with
water (H2O).
 Compounds – are two or more different atoms combined in definite proportions
example: ethyl alcohol  Ethanol is a chemical compound, a simple alcohol with the chemical formula C
₂H ₆O or C2H5OH.
 Atomic Weight of element – is the relative weight of element as compared to the weight of an atom of
carbon, arbitrarily assigned. Ex. 12. 011.
 Molecular weight of compound – is the sum of the atomic weight of all atoms in one molecule of the
compound.
 Chemical formula – is an abbreviated way of writing the substance using the symbols of elements
composing the substance and the subscripts of whole number to denote the proportion at which they
combine. Ex. Water formula: H2O
 Physical Science of Fire (chemistry of fire)
 Fire is a rapid chemical reaction that gives off energy and products of combustion that are very different in
composition from the fuel and oxygen that combined to produce them. For the purpose of simple
understanding on how the fire grows and products of combustible materials it’s better to emphasized the basic
theory form physical science or the chemistry of fire which also include the related laws of physics and its
relation to matters and energy.
 Ignition and Burning
before the combustible materials will ignite or burn we need to understand first the basic concept and
importance the things in order that the fire will occur and these are;
* fuels
* oxygen
* heat
in order to produce fire there must be a sufficient heat to vaporize of some fuel eg. Solid and or liquid to
ignite the vapour after it mixes with the oxygen for to sustain burning. The fire must produced enough heat and
fuel vapour, this process is frequently called Chain Reaction
 Combustion – fire and
combustion are terms that are
frequently used
interchangeably. However, fire
is a form of combustion or a
chemical reaction. Combustion
is a self-sustaining chemical
reaction yielding energy of
products that may cause further
reactions of the same kind.
THEORIES OF COMBUSTION
 Fire Triangle theory- the graphical representation of the three elements of
fire: Oxygen, Heat and fuel.
there cannot be fire without all the three parts are present in equal
proportion.
Three ways to extinguish fire;
• Remove the fuel
• Cut-off the oxygen supply
• Reduce the temperature (cooling)
Elements of Fire
1. Heat – a form of energy generated by the transmission of some other form
of energy, as in combustion or burning.
Heat sources:
a. Open flame d. Hot surfaces
b. Electrical circuit e. Friction
c. Sparks f. All sources of ignition
2. Oxygen – a colourless, odourless gas and one Fuel sources:
of the compositions of air which is
a. Solid- molecules are closely packed together
approximately 21% by volume.
b. Liquid- molecules are loosely packed
Oxygen sources:
c. Gas- molecules are free to moved
a. 21% of normal oxygen
Common types of Solids:
b. 78% of nitrogen
a. Bulky
c. 1% of other gases
*Coal, Wood, Wax, Grease
Oxygen Requirement
b. Finely divided
a. 12% - no fire
*Plastic, paper, cork, leather
b. 14% - Flash point
c. Dust
c. 21% - Fire point
*Saw dust, sugar, grain, others
3. Fuel – any substance which reacts chemically
with oxygen and produces flames. Common types of Liquids:
1. Gasoline 4. Alcohol 7. Varnish
2. Kerosene 5. Cod liver oil 8. lacquer
3. Turpentine 6. Paint 9. olive oil
 Common types of Gases:
1. natural gas
2. propane
3. butane
4. hydrogen
5. acetylene
6. carbon monoxide and others

Fire Triangle theory

Fire Tetrahedron theory
 Fire Tetrahedron theory
1. Oxygen (oxidizing agent)
oxidizing agents are those materials that yield oxygen or other oxidizing gases during the process of a
chemical reaction. Oxidizers are not themselves combustible, but they support combustion when combined w/ a
fuel.
2. Fuel (reducing Agent)
fuel is the material or substance being burned in the combustion process. Most common fuels contain carbon
along w/ combinations of hydrogen and oxygen.
Fuel gases are involved from solid fuels by pyrolysis. The chemical process whereby fire consumes most
solids materials is called Pyrolysis.
3. Heat (temperature)
heat a energy component of the fire tetrahedron. When heat comes in contact w/ a fuel, the energy supports
the combustion process.
4. Self sustained chemical reaction (the fourth element)
combustion is a complex reaction that it requires a fuel (gaseous or vapour state), an oxidizer , and heat to
combine in a very specific way. Once flaming starts, it can only continued chain reaction. Chain reaction is a
series of events that occur in sequence with the results of each individual reaction being added to the rest.
 Heat (temperature)
Types of energy or common source of Heat
1. Chemical energy
2. Electrical energy
3. Nuclear energy
4. Mechanical energy
a. heat of friction
b. heat of compression
 Quiz-essay
10 points each, write your answers in your notebook then take picture and send it back to
email..applegracedelacruz1121@gmail.com

1. If one of the elements of fire chemistry is missing. Fire will exist? Why

2. Setting a fire considered as Arson? why