Often times you hear about the cause of a fire being a cigarette for example. However, isn’t the cigarette already long gone after the house/forrest/etc. has burnt down? How is it still possible find out what started the fire?
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Hey I can answer this. Forensics.
Different things burn/melt at different temperatures. Anytime you see the dumb meme “why did this place burn down but the cross stands” it isn’t because religion it is because metal/gold melts at a higher temperature than wood fires can get. But likewise things give off indicators. An electrical outlet that is the cause usually occurs at the connection between the outlet and ‘the other thing’ via a spark. The outlet plate is going to singe as the sparks fly and ignite something nearby. But if the plate doesn’t melt/otherwise get harmed it is a strong indicator that it started there.
But the road doesn’t end there. Did something metal partly start melting on one end? Great the hottest heat started generally that way. Generally that indicates that the most fuel was that way that got spent before the fire was put out. (This isn’t absolute because certain things tend to ‘cheat’ but those are rare) .
Also include talking to anyone there/lived there/was present near the time of the fire. Using your example the ‘heat’ (and burn pattern – which is predictable to anyone who has put out a campfire essentially) was in the center of the room with no electronics/indicators that all of a sudden someone threw a Molotov through the window we can start narrowing it down. A couch doesn’t spontaneously catch on fire for no reason, there are no signs of something intentionally flammable (gasoline, rubbing alcohol) and the homeowner is a known smoker-we can confirm this by the ashtray that didn’t melt which is now sitting on the ground. We can’t say beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was started by a cigarette but based on the available evidence it is very likely that it happened.
Note it isn’t DNA levels of ‘magic’ where you end up with insane results. ‘the chances it was something/someone else is 1 to the 10x12th power’ which is science doing what law does where we never say ‘yes’ or ‘no’
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