VEHICLE FIRE INVESTIGATION COURSES

Transcription

1 COURSES AT HOME BASE IN NENAGH IRELAND BUT CAN BE RUN ANYWHERE ALL VEHICLES FROM CARS TO BUSES TYPES OF FIRE SMALL TO TOTAL SYSTEMATIC THE APPROACH TO INVESTIGATION VEHICLE FIRE INVESTIGATION COURSES Aims To develop the skills needed to investigate vehicles involved in fire incidents. This course will be of particular interest to Police Officers of the Collision/Accident Investigation Department, Counter Terrorism Officers (car bomb incidents), Vehicle Examiners, Forensic Science Officers, Fire Officers, SOCO s, Vehicle Inspectors and Insurance Investigators. The investigator Look and I will see, seek and I will find Fire Safety & Vehicle Fire Investigation!1

2 Park Lodge International Ltd The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister reports The Economic Cost of Fire puts the cost of arson to the economy in England and Wales at 2.4 billion per year, with the cost of fire as a whole to the economy at 7.0 billion. Never easy but training & experience helps With fire loses rising there is a need to reduce arson which, especially in motor vehicles, is used to destroy evidence following criminal activities including insurance fraud. That is what the criminal believes, but great steps have been taken to recover finger prints and DNA from fire scenes. Fire investigation is not and never has been easy, but Park Lodge International Ltd. has now made this much more feasible. There are three key points to any successful investigation: * A quick response * Sympathetic fire fighting * Systematic investigation A systematic investigation means carefully recording the scene, making notes and taking photographs. An investigator must never jump to conclusions and their findings must be based on proven facts which are recorded in a robust report with good photographs and drawings that are legally compliant in the country of investigation. The investigator must keep within their skill limits and be prepared to record probable cause and point of origin if that can be proven. It is not always possible to record conclusive findings, but it is now possible to greatly increase the success rate if the three key points are observed. 'My power lies in not what I know but in the questions I ask to seek out the correct answers, sometimes those questions are to myself. Richard Baker 1988 The 2 day course is a mixture of theory and practical. At least 50% of the time is spent investigating fires both accidental and deliberate in motor vehicles. All the vehicle fires are new for each course and the syndicate make up aims to compliment both skill and experience of the delegates.!2

3 OUTCOMES Each delegate will have an understanding and working knowledge of: What fire is The importance of sympathetic fire fighting to enable evidence identification and gathering The systematic approach to fire investigation Burn patterns and fire loading Identifying point or points of origin The use of accelerants and ignition methods Reading the fire scene What the witness or witnesses can tell about the fire The course attracts 13 hours CPD from The Institution of Fire Engineers The course is approved Stage 1 for Zurich Insurance History From the vehicle fire investigation course s inception in 2000 when both Surrey Police and VOSA requested a training course it has developed over the years and now attracts people from all over the world and from all walks of life. Course balance: The course is carefully designed to provide theory inputs through inter active teaching methods which is then reinforced with practical sessions on the fire ground with recently damaged vehicles - do, feel and understand. On the first three practicals each syndicate investigates a vehicle which was burnt the day before the course, during investigations delegates are encouraged to question their findings and provide possible causes, points of origin and whether the incident was deliberate or accidental. Excavation and the identity of stencil marks, drop down and the various theories are discussed while the investigations are in progress but also in the review stages. The second day practical involves each syndicate planning and burning a car. This experience focusses the delegates to understand fire spread, ventilation and slow and quick fire development. The planned fire can give the impression or to reenact an accidental fire or to be an example of deliberate ignition. Each syndicate needs to plan, describe and implement the scenario and then witness the fire which for many is the first time of seeing a start to finish fire situation which in itself provides knowledge. At all points reviews and questioning takes place in order that each delegate maximises the learning available. It also gives delegates an opportunity to try various fire setting, dispose of some myths in order to give them the objective view capability for fire investigation.!3

4 AREAS COVERED:! Arson methods! Causes of fires in road vehicles! Low voltage electricity! Flash points and auto ignition temperatures of various products used in motor vehicles! Static electricity! Impact! Fire Development! Setting a deliberate fire - inter group! Predicting fire development! Investigations and group work! Evidence available and preservation! DNA opportunities! Fire pattern analysis! Post fire scene examination! Vehicle Fire Investigation A systematic approach! Recording the fire scene! Sympathetic fire fighting WHAT CAN START A FIRE, WHAT CANNOT? DELEGATES CAN SEE AND TRY VARIOUS METHODS.!4

5 THE PRACTICAL APPROACH TO INVESTIGATION! Determining the fire temperature.! What should be considered in ascertaining the cause of fire.! The Role of the Fire Service.! Risk Assessments for the Investigator! Looking for evidence! Recording the evidence! Recording the fire scene! DNA opportunities! Practical fire scenarios on fire spread! The chemistry of fire and flash points covering petrol, diesel, brake fluid, liquefied petroleum gas, etc.! Sympathetic extinguishing methods for evidence and DNA preservation.! Group discussions on fire development, methods of deliberate fire setting! Setting a deliberate fire for the other group to investigate! Presentation including evidence gathered to course! Fire investigation on vehicles that have been involved in fire both accidental and deliberate.! Reviews and presentations by groups. Our delegates come from all over the world and from every type of background. Countries include, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Russia, Botswana, South Africa, France, Ireland, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and UK. Their backgrounds include Police, Fire, Vehicle Standards Agency, Insurance companies, Insurance assessors/ engineers, Scenes of Crime, Bus companies, Vehicle manufacturers, British Army, etc. There are some films of the fires that have been set by the syndicates on our YouTube channel, NIMBUSFIREEU and on

6 2017 The Vehicle Fire Investigation Courses have been running since 2000, they have been developed over the years and remain at the forefront of fire investigation. Many thanks Richard for the excellent course I attended in Nenagh on the 6th and 7th December 2011,I had previously attended your course in Redhill a number of years ago and was keen to do the advanced course. The training course over the two days was excellent and the information received from both yourself and Chris Lowe was once again excellent in its content. The course was also of great interest as there were Fire Investigators from the South African Police department doing the course and it was great to share our past investigations with each other. The class room side of the course was excellent as well as the practical tests in the field including seeing our own fires as we were split in two groups and each group had to examine opposite teams vehicle the cause of fire. The course content enables the investigator to carry out a systematic and detailed examination of the damaged vehicle to not only discover the cause and seat of fire but also the knowledge in how to look and obtain evidence from both around and inside the vehicle to build a case as to the exact reason or cause of fire in certain cases. Many thanks to both yourself and Chris and look forward to future training courses. Regards Declan Byrne A. Inst AEA, M.F.I.E.A. CAE, AMIMI, Eng Tech, MSOE, MIRTE.. F.I.A.I. Edge Anderson & Co Ltd Hello Richard, Yes, It was nice to nearly see you. I'm sorry that I was out of the office. I had an inquest in Horsham go to. Colin apparently mentioned about a recent result in inquest, for a car related fire suicide. The incident happened last November, prior to my adv. vehicle fire inv. course with you. However, the skills learnt on my standard course served me well. Furthermore, the adv. course skills confirmed my work on investigation. The Coroner was very generous in his comments to me about my investigation which, turn, reflects equally upon the training that I had received from both you and Chris. Should you need an endorsement for your training, especially in the field of collision investigation, I would be happy for this anecdote to be regaled. Kind regards, Mark Hill, LCGI AAE MIMI Collision Investigator, TRRL!6

7 Richard, Hello, I hope you have had a good weekend and got back home safely. Many thanks for a very good course. I found it very informative and set at a realistic pace. I learnt a lot and have a far better appreciation because of this course. The practicals were very useful, especially getting to set our own fires. That gave me a very good appreciation of how difficult it is to get the fires started and advance them. Let me know as and when both Chris and yourself would like to come down to us at Shoreham. Take care and look forward to hearing from you in due course. Kind regards. Adrian Adrian SHORT LCGI MITAI AAE MIMI! Police Forensic Collision Investigator Directing Staff Richard Baker A.M.I.R.T.E., A.M.S.O.E., Hon.M.I.V.R., M.Inst.Pet. Was until recently Chief Fire Officer for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania & Nairobi, Kenya after setting up from scratch a fully functional fire, rescue and ambulance service including a fire investigation team based on UK standards. This now covers much of East Africa as well and includes air ambulance response covering some 588,000 square miles. Richard was co-author of The Energy Institute s code of practice on the product and vehicle recovery of low flash products transported by road tanker and was founder of the national Vehicle Fire Investigation course that has IFE CPD points. He is an Associate Member of the Institute of Road Transport Engineers, Associate Member of the Society of Operational Engineers and an Honorary Member of the Institute of Vehicle Recovery. He is also author of the Police Blue Book on dealing with HAZMAT incidents, author of the risk management distant learning BSc programme for the University of Hong Kong, author of the Police and Forensic Science Fire Investigation handbook and Exercise Director for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Counter Terrorism Exercises in Central and East Africa. After COURSE DETAIL A fire investigation handout and a copy of the presentations are provided electronically for each delegate. A certificate is issued The pictures of the various fires are placed in a dropbox folder after the course!7

8 A link to the You Tube Films (and placed on of the syndicates vehicles fires is provided. Costs: Ireland (Nenagh) 750 There are 20% discounts available for IFE, IRTE, SOE, IMI, FSS, IAEA, IVR, etc. Costs include: Two day course Instruction, light lunch, coffee & tea throughout each training day. Electronic handouts and pictures via Dropbox Costs do not include: VAT (EU Rules apply) Accommodation (Nenagh approx) Travel to or from course location Development Course: For delegates that have attended the two day Vehicle Fire Investigation Course either in UK or Ireland can return and further develop their skills. DC delegates, a maximum of two per VFI course meet on the day before the VFI course, go through some case studies, set the fires for the course and then Tutor a group throughout their two days. If you would like some detail or to discuss please make contact.!8

9 Dates for th 26th April - Nenagh 6th 7th June - Nenagh 26th 27th September - Nenagh The vehicle fire investigation course can be run anywhere in the world (a few exceptions) - please make contact for discussion. Park Lodge International Ltd Rowlestone, Hereford, HR2 0HE, UK fire@parklodge.org.uk Tel: Fax: !9