Eli5: How can they tell where a fire starts and how it grew after the building has already been burned down?

Question

Eli5: How can they tell where a fire starts and how it grew after the building has already been burned down?

In: 6

Answer 1

Items and materials behave differently, depending on the circumstances of the fire, and are different depending on how they are burned down. Take a normal camp fire. you can with a bit of experience estimate how long each log was in the fire, depending on how it looks.

If you go through the smouldering rubble, and you see that the rubble of the second floor is barely burned, but the foundation of the first floor is burned up, then you can reasonably assume that the fire was on the first floor, not on the second floor.

It is similar like reconstructing an aircraft crash: piece by piece you put together a picture and attempt to find out, if all parts suits known fire patterns.

SYL