Posted by: Tim Aiken
December 20, 2005

Successful fire loss claims often require that the injured party establish the exact cause of the fire. Experienced fire loss personal injury attorneys work with a wide variety of professionals to help their clients prove the causes and origins of a fire. A highly qualified and experienced fire investigator is a key member of any fire loss investigation team.

Reconstructing how and where a fire started poses some of the most daunting forensic challenges. Particularly because with severe fires and gas explosions much of the evidence at the source of the gas explosion or fire may be destroyed. Historically, fire investigators relied on their previous fire investigation experience to determine the fire's orgin and to help them form an opinion regarding the cause of the fire's or explosion's ignition source; however, a United States Supreme Court Decision in 1983 changed the criteria for determining a fire's and or explosion's source in order for it to be admissable at trial. Forensic testimony must meet certain criteria to be regarded as reliable.

The criteria for reliable scientific testimony are:

Whether the scientific technique or theory employed has been tested;
Whether the scientific technique or theory employed has been the subject of peer review or publication;
The known or potential error rate; and
The degree of acceptance a technique or theory has within the relevant scientific community.

These criteria have been applied to fire loss testimony by fire investigation experts and, as a result, fire investigation has changed from an art into a science.