Using the scientific approach to solve the puzzle
Vehicle fires can be triggered by a host of different sources, making it a real challenge to determine the cause. Critical questions arise in the investigative process: Did the vehicle have any known mechanical issues? Are there recalls associated with its make and model? Could environmental factors, like wind patterns, explain the uneven distribution of damage?
This video delves into the meticulous process that investigators need to follow to shed light on the reasons behind a vehicle catching fire.
Hello, and thank you for joining us today.
My name is Paul Gullekson. I’m with CEP forensic. Today we’re in our Edmonton office, and we’re going to be talking about fire investigations, specifically vehicle fire investigations. And joining us today is Geoff Wowk.
Hey, Geoff.
Geoff:
Hi. How’s it going?
Paul:
Good. The reason I asked Geoff to join us is because he’s got a bit of a unique profile related to vehicle fire investigations across the country. Our fire investigators are all certified fire and explosion experts. Many of them are certified vehicle fire investigators, both of which Geoff is. But in addition, Geoff is also a mechanical engineer. In fact, we graduated together. That gives him a solid scientific foundation as well as a good understanding of how vehicle systems work. In addition to all of that, your dad’s also a mechanic?
Geoff:
That’s right. Yeah. I spent a lot of time in the mechanic shop working on vehicles. Even rapped my knuckles a few times.
Paul:
I bet. Yeah. All right, well, let’s get into it, and let’s start with the obvious question. Why do vehicles burn?
Geoff:
Vehicles can burn for a variety of reasons: the design of the vehicle, manufacturing of specific components, installation of those components on the vehicle, and whether the vehicle was properly maintained. Another factor to consider is the human factor, whether it’s somebody smoking inside the vehicle or they wanted to intentionally ignite their vehicle.
Paul:
Important thing to find out. Okay, so then that’s why a vehicle may burn. What’s our involvement? Why are we getting involved in these [investigations]?
Geoff:
We generally get involved for a couple reasons. One would be to make sure that these vehicles are safe to be on the road. And then the second reason is to identify any potential contributing factors and subrogation for insurance companies.
Paul:
And on the safety side of things, I know we’ve had a few where we would work with or for Transport Canada on vehicles where we’ve seen a pattern of them burning. We’re going to look into that and see if there’s a fundamental issue with that vehicle, and then that may result in a recall to either get it fixed or get those vehicles off the roadway. On the subrogation side of things, certainly when a vehicle burns, there’s some quantum there, but vehicles aren’t all that expensive, although there are some that are pretty expensive. But if that vehicle is then parked in a garage, burns a house down, that claim starts to grow quite a bit. And there’s a real need to find out, was there a contributing factor that caused this?
Okay, so now let’s jump into the investigation itself. Before you get out to the vehicle, you need to gather some information. Why don’t you take us through that? Yeah.
Geoff:
So one of the first calls we would make is to the driver. The driver would have a first hand account of the vehicle, how it was operating that day, whether the engine was malfunctioning, whether there was an alert on the dash. So in addition to that, we’d reach out to the fire and police departments to get some information on what they saw when they arrived on the scene, as well as do some recall research. Maybe there’s a specific component on those vehicles that are contributing to fires. And then lastly, we’d reach out to do some environmental research.
Paul:
Okay, so why don’t we unpack that piece a bit? Why is the environmental research important?
Geoff:
So when we do our environmental research, we’d find out wind patterns. It’s important because the fire may have originated on the left side of the vehicle, and the wind would push it to the right side. So in that case, you might see more fire damage on the right side versus the left side. And if you didn’t have that information, you might find that you might have the wrong area of origin.
Paul:
Okay. Pretty important then. So now you’ve done your research. The next step is going to be getting out to the vehicle. So can you take us through your vehicle exam?
Geoff:
Yeah. So again, we’re trying to identify fire patterns. We do a full 360 around the vehicle, comparing if there is more fire damage on the right side versus on the left side. Then we’d go into specific compartments: the engine compartment, the occupant compartment, storage compartment, and exterior of the vehicle. Some of the common reasons for fires in the engine compartment are electrical short circuits. And the second most common reason is engine oil and hydrocarbons on hot components like exhaust. Inside the occupant compartment and storage compartment you’re looking for aftermarket additions that may have contributed, as well as the human factors we talked about previously.
Paul:
On the exterior of the vehicle we’re looking at, was anything building up in and around the vehicle, and then were there any issues with rotating components like bearings and in and around the tires?
Geoff:
Yeah, those are usually interesting, because if a tire goes up, that can be quite a significant fire.
Paul:
So after that portion of the examination, there’s often a need to take a deeper dive, especially if you’ve found the origin and want to go after the cause. And that deeper dive often also requires having other parties involved. So why don’t you take us through kind of the joint exam and that deeper dive?
Geoff:
Yeah. So once we kind of narrow down an area of origin and potential ignition sources, we may want to bring in third parties, experts. It could be a mechanic shop, could be the manufacturer of the vehicle. And once we do that, then we can start removing components and examining them in a lab setting, maybe an X ray, maybe a microscope, and further narrow down that root cause.
Paul:
And the reason that’s important is because on the subrogation side, we want to ensure that if someone contributed to this vehicle burning, that they have the same opportunity to do the investigation and hopefully come to the same conclusion. So it’s important to have all parties that may be involved there at the time on the safety side of things. Again, we’re involving the manufacturer, potentially, and certainly Transport Canada to kind of find out if there is a fundamental issue with the vehicle.
All right, I think that’s all the time we have today. Thanks, Geoff, for joining us and taking us through this topic.
If you have any questions on fire investigation in general or with respect to vehicle fire investigation, don’t hesitate to reach out.