Eli5: how do fire detectives find the start of a large fire? Is it more burnt in that specific area where it started somehow?

Question

Eli5: how do fire detectives find the start of a large fire? Is it more burnt in that specific area where it started somehow?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

Fire investigators are required to have a vast array of knowledge on fire dynamics, including how specific objects and fuels burn and what pattern a fire would likely take in a specific environment given the fuel.

Using that information, an investigator can usually determine whether a fire burned in a way it shouldn’t have been able to (perhaps indicating a fuel or accelerant like gasoline had been used) or whether the fire originated in a location with no obvious ignition sources.