Firestarter

Firestarter

A fascinating glimpse into the causes of fire was given when Watch Manager Dave Coss of Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service visited Hucknall Rotary Club as the latest guest speaker.

Dave commented how nice it was to be invited to such a jovial gathering where he had been made  to feel extremely welcomed and told of when accepting similar invitations to talk with other groups he had often been met with stoney-faced audiences that never expressed any warmth.

Dave began by relating the following true story which I’ve reproduced here in full as its well worth another mention:

Only in America - Strange Story but True Story of the Cigars

A man from Charlotte, North Carolina, having purchased a case of very expensive cigars, insured them against, among other things, fire. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile, the man filed a claim against the insurance company, stating that the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires'.

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The man sued - and won.

In delivering the ruling the judge, agreeing that the claim was frivolous, stated nevertheless that the man held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure against fire, without defining what it considered to be 'unacceptable fire' , and was obliged to pay the claim. Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid the man $15,000 for the rare cigars he had lost 'in the fires'.

After he cashed the cheque, however, the company had him arrested on 24 counts of arson. With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the man was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

A good humourous story to introduce a serious topic.  Dave is part of the Fire Investigation Team, and along with his dog Freckles, is deployed all over the 5 counties of the East Midlands to determine the cause of fires.  Dave and his dog is 1 of only 13 such teams in the whole country.  There is no middle ground as far as fire is concerned, an incident is either accidental or deliberate.  Part of the role of Dave and his team is to establish from the fire scene whether the cause was accidental or deliberate.  Should they discover a crime, the fire scene then becomes a crime scene which the Police force take over the full investigation but usually re-engage the Fire Investigation Team for their skills and experience in that field.

Dave has attended over 1,400 incidents since 2004, taken part in 115 fatal fire investigations and helped to secure over 100 convictions including 8 life sentences for the evidence that the Fire Investigation Team has discovered.

The dogs are trained by South Yorkshire Police and tested for ongoing suitability for the role every year.  They are equipped with special boots to protect them from any dangerous debris at the fire scene and are trained to find any inflammable liquid in 1) In its unburnt state 2) Partial burnt state and 3) Fully burnt state.  Dogs used in detection work are all trained along similar methods, but depending of the type of work they undertake, the way in which the dog indicates a ‘find’ differs.   The method used by the dogs involved in Fire Investigation is Passive indication where they point to the discovery with their nose.

Dave illustrated his talk with examples of some of the historic cases he had been involved with, explaining how the dog initially made the discovery and the subsequent evidence that then came to light.

On behalf of members, Rotarian Stuart Whitehead (who had invited Dave along) thank WM Dave Coss for an excellent and informative presentation.