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20 December 2024
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Featured FRI Magazine article: How to go about becoming a veldfire investigator by Rob Erasmus, Enviro Wildfire Services
Working on Fire crew leaders being introduced to determining the origin and cause of a wildfire
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An example of some of the contents of a basic veldfire investigation kit
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A photo reference marker when documenting evidence
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https://www.frimedia.org/uploads/1/2/2/7/122743954/fri-vol-2-no-11_web.pdf
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: How to go about becoming a veldfire investigator by Rob Erasmus, Enviro Wildfire Services (FRI Vol 2 no 12). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
How to go about becoming a veldfire investigator
By Rob Erasmus, Enviro Wildfire Services
The wildfire industry is a broad industry indeed, covering aspects of suppression, prevention, extension, education and awareness, consulting, provision of equipment, training and investigations that can address origin and cause and at times the spread and possible negligence of landowners.
With the role of a forensic fire investigation at times envied by others as a result of the television and movie industry (CSI etc), as well as the associated mystique and challenges, one would expect there to be more qualified and competent investigators active in South Africa. This is not the case as many fall by the wayside after completing their theoretical training.
Becoming a fire investigator does not happen overnight and the process can basically be divided into three phases.
Phase one would be obtaining an understanding of fire behaviour. This assists in understanding how the fire would behave based on fuel, topography and weather. While some investigators may not have this experience, it is definitely an advantage when documenting the spread and behaviour of the fire. Note that the starting point(s) of the fire is determined using a scientific method of identifying and following burn indicators back to the general origin, and not on ‘gut feel as many people tend to do. The former technique is crucial for the proper documentation and report writing process and possibly for the presentation of evidence should the case go to court. Fire behaviour assists in locating and identifying burn indicators and patterns.
Obtaining an understanding of fire behaviour can be done in a number of ways, including active fire fighting, observing fires during runaway or prescribed burning events and computer modeling. To get a really good grasp on this subject takes time as no two fires are the same. The behaviour will vary according to the weather conditions (wind speed, humidity and temperature), topography and terrain and the type of fuel (grass, bushveld, fynbos) and its age and structure.
Phase two is the attending of the one week origin and cause determination theory course, presented by organisations such as the Kishugu Group (FFA Group) that are usually run near the end of each year in Nelspruit, with additional courses presented elsewhere upon request. These courses cover all the theoretical aspects of undertaking an origin and cause investigation, as well as practical opportunities to test your skills.
Phase three is where most potential fire investigators fall short or lose interest, namely returning to their home bases to undertake a number of investigations on their own for submission to the course directors for evaluation.
I shall dwell shortly on this shortcoming as I believe it is an important aspect. The course candidates are required to complete a workbook and submit a number of investigation reports to demonstrate they have a thorough understanding of undertaking an investigation as well as having the ability and capacity. The vast majority of those attending such courses are in full-time employ and fire investigation is not their primary function. Thus, being able to drop what they are doing to go and investigate a wildfire, for training purposes, generally does not happen. The result is that the required investigations are never undertaken, the theory aspects are forgotten and another potential fire investigator is lost to the industry.
It is here that we at Enviro Wildfire Services would like to step in and invite those who have completed their theoretical training over the past two years, to contact us should they wish to be put onto our contact list. The concept is to assist such persons with their required practical aspects in the form of investigation opportunities and guidance. The fire itself does not need to be big or important. The aim is to undertake an investigation using the correct procedures and drafting an accurate report. There would be no charge to providing this assistance.
While some organisations include a basic investigation field kit as part of the course fees, candidates may need to purchase their own, or add to the one provided.
A basic field kit should consist of a lockable dust/water proof tool box, global positioning system (GPS), suitable digital camera capable of taking high resolution photographs, notebook and pen, roll of barrier/hazard tape, 5m tape measure, 30m steel roller tape measure, red (20)/yellow (15)/blue (10) marker flags, 20m of white cord for the specific origin, magnifying glass, magnet, large paint brush, small paint brush, latex gloves, forceps, soapy-water and clean-water spray bottles, sample bottles and bags for evidence and evidence photo markers. Advanced kits could include metal detectors and drones for aerial photography.
We hope that the readers have found this five-part series on wildfire investigations to have been both interesting and informative and invite you to contact us should you wish for more information about training or the undertaking of investigations in your area. Likewise we are able to provide presentations to staff and fire protection association (FPA) members.
Rob Erasmus may be contacted on email: [email protected].
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: How to go about becoming a veldfire investigator by Rob Erasmus, Enviro Wildfire Services (FRI Vol 2 no 12). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
How to go about becoming a veldfire investigator
By Rob Erasmus, Enviro Wildfire Services
The wildfire industry is a broad industry indeed, covering aspects of suppression, prevention, extension, education and awareness, consulting, provision of equipment, training and investigations that can address origin and cause and at times the spread and possible negligence of landowners.
With the role of a forensic fire investigation at times envied by others as a result of the television and movie industry (CSI etc), as well as the associated mystique and challenges, one would expect there to be more qualified and competent investigators active in South Africa. This is not the case as many fall by the wayside after completing their theoretical training.
Becoming a fire investigator does not happen overnight and the process can basically be divided into three phases.
Phase one would be obtaining an understanding of fire behaviour. This assists in understanding how the fire would behave based on fuel, topography and weather. While some investigators may not have this experience, it is definitely an advantage when documenting the spread and behaviour of the fire. Note that the starting point(s) of the fire is determined using a scientific method of identifying and following burn indicators back to the general origin, and not on ‘gut feel as many people tend to do. The former technique is crucial for the proper documentation and report writing process and possibly for the presentation of evidence should the case go to court. Fire behaviour assists in locating and identifying burn indicators and patterns.
Obtaining an understanding of fire behaviour can be done in a number of ways, including active fire fighting, observing fires during runaway or prescribed burning events and computer modeling. To get a really good grasp on this subject takes time as no two fires are the same. The behaviour will vary according to the weather conditions (wind speed, humidity and temperature), topography and terrain and the type of fuel (grass, bushveld, fynbos) and its age and structure.
Phase two is the attending of the one week origin and cause determination theory course, presented by organisations such as the Kishugu Group (FFA Group) that are usually run near the end of each year in Nelspruit, with additional courses presented elsewhere upon request. These courses cover all the theoretical aspects of undertaking an origin and cause investigation, as well as practical opportunities to test your skills.
Phase three is where most potential fire investigators fall short or lose interest, namely returning to their home bases to undertake a number of investigations on their own for submission to the course directors for evaluation.
I shall dwell shortly on this shortcoming as I believe it is an important aspect. The course candidates are required to complete a workbook and submit a number of investigation reports to demonstrate they have a thorough understanding of undertaking an investigation as well as having the ability and capacity. The vast majority of those attending such courses are in full-time employ and fire investigation is not their primary function. Thus, being able to drop what they are doing to go and investigate a wildfire, for training purposes, generally does not happen. The result is that the required investigations are never undertaken, the theory aspects are forgotten and another potential fire investigator is lost to the industry.
It is here that we at Enviro Wildfire Services would like to step in and invite those who have completed their theoretical training over the past two years, to contact us should they wish to be put onto our contact list. The concept is to assist such persons with their required practical aspects in the form of investigation opportunities and guidance. The fire itself does not need to be big or important. The aim is to undertake an investigation using the correct procedures and drafting an accurate report. There would be no charge to providing this assistance.
While some organisations include a basic investigation field kit as part of the course fees, candidates may need to purchase their own, or add to the one provided.
A basic field kit should consist of a lockable dust/water proof tool box, global positioning system (GPS), suitable digital camera capable of taking high resolution photographs, notebook and pen, roll of barrier/hazard tape, 5m tape measure, 30m steel roller tape measure, red (20)/yellow (15)/blue (10) marker flags, 20m of white cord for the specific origin, magnifying glass, magnet, large paint brush, small paint brush, latex gloves, forceps, soapy-water and clean-water spray bottles, sample bottles and bags for evidence and evidence photo markers. Advanced kits could include metal detectors and drones for aerial photography.
We hope that the readers have found this five-part series on wildfire investigations to have been both interesting and informative and invite you to contact us should you wish for more information about training or the undertaking of investigations in your area. Likewise we are able to provide presentations to staff and fire protection association (FPA) members.
Rob Erasmus may be contacted on email: [email protected].