‘I LIKE TO SEE US AS TRUTH SEEKERS’

Fire investigator says job cross between detective and archaeologist

FROM accidental fires in the home to the deliberate grass fires which parts of Wales have recently seen, fire crews are continually put to the test in their jobs.

But as well as battling the blazes, there’s also the job of investigating how each fire has started and finding out whether it is accidental or deliberate.

That is the jobj for fire investigag tors – of which there are 23 in South Wales. General manager Andrew Sargent, who is from Caerphilly, is the lead fire investigator and has been with the fire service since 1990. Andrew, who will mark a decade in fire investigation next year, has given us an insight into the job and what it involves.

Describing the job as a cross between a detective and an archaeologist, Andrew said: “When we first arrive we don’t know if it was accidental or deliberate. Through investigation we have to gather the data to try and establish.

“I always advocate when you arrive at a scene, just stand there for five minutes and just soak it in. There are small things that you will pick up. The small things can be the biggest thing in the case.

“Observation is important. Take fire patterns. There are such things as V and U patterns. ““If If the pattern of damage on the wall is in the shape of aV it

tells me that the fire started against the wall at the base of the V.

“The U pattern is similar but means there was a space between the fire and the wall as oxygen was able to circle in the gap.”

If a flooroo has as collapsedco apsed t the e tea team may also have to dig down into th the remains, layer by layer.

The fire investigators will u use their observations in order to rer port what most likely happene happened. There are, however, red herringsherrin that can lead all but the most savv savvy investigator down the wrong pat path.

Andrew said: “If you have cu curtains they will burn and fall downdow on the floor. So you will have tw two distinct burn patterns and som someone else will think there were tw two separate fires there but a FI w will see that it is a curtain that hash dropped down so won’t be ledle down the wrong path.”

Fire investigators may also u use fire dogs who can locate if petr petrol or other accelerants were used to start a blaze. The service in Sou South Wales used to have two dog dogs, Sammy and Bo, but now uses a national register.

Fire investigation can also i involve experiments.

When he thought tea lights o on top of a television could start a fir fire, Andrew once went back and trie tried to set fire to a screen.

He said: “There is a Chief Fi Fire Officer Association and we passpa information to them and also a regional group in Wales, and w we share information. There a are books, podcasts and there is a an international association of arson investigators. “Although there is a lot of information out ther there, sometimes it is good justju to set fire to somethingsomethin and see how it goes. “If you test som something it may co confifirm firm or disprovedisprov your idea.” A large pa part of a fire i investigator vestigator’s job is to s standtan

up in court and say why they believe a fire started.

Their report and evidence can mean a prison sentence for someone or an explanation for a grieving family. There is a lot of pressure on investigators to get it right.

“Fire investigators are part of the prosecution jigsaw,” said Andrew. “We work out the origin of the fire.

“We may say something is started deliberately but it is not for us to say who did it. The police use the information.

“All our evidence is on fact and data. We may be asked to give opinion on the data.

“I like to see us as truth seekers and not case makers.

“We have to be methodical and thorough. I tell fire investigators as they conduct their investigation to imagine how they will explain everything in the witness stand.”

The fire service wants to make it clear that people will not get away with acts of arson, even if a building is burned to the ground.

“It is surprising” said Andrew. “Even if it is a fully destroyed house, the evidence that can be found there.

“We get on our hands and knees, will grind a room and will find the evidence.

“Forensic evidence like DNA can survive fires. If it is on an item and then in the fire something falls on it, it will protect it. That can then be analysed.”

And after almost a decade investigating South Wales fires Andrew still has the same love of the job. “I am very keen,” he said. “I enjoy going to a property where in reality you think there is nothing left of it. And then by the end you can say a fire started here and it spread like this.

“Sometimes we get a large industrial factory or a school totally burned to the ground.

“And then after a few days you can say, yes, this is where it started.”

But the toughest part of the job for any fire investigator is in cases where people have died.

“Every fatal incident is a tough one,” said Andrew. “Someone has lost their life and you have to pass the message on so people can learn from it.

“If it is in a coroner’s court, then family want to know how their loved one died.

“If someone has lost their life it is the worst thing to go to. Hopefully we can help the family understand the reasons for the fire.”