Added information in the 2017 edition of NFPA 921 helps you work more accurately to investigate fire origin and cause.
If your job involves investigating fires and explosions, then you need the latest NFPA 921: Guide For Fire & Explosion Investigations. Revised and updated for the 2017 edition, this document is the premier source for rendering scientific based opinions on origin and cause investigations along with incident responsibility.
NFPA 921 describes in detail the scientific method to apply in fire and explosion investigations. Public and private professionals have long seen NFPA 921 as a valuable resource in the field and in training. It's also becoming increasingly relevant in U.S. federal and state courts, where the document is used to evaluate the reliability of fire investigations in both civil and criminal trials.
Recently NFPA 921 became a recommended guide for fire investigation by the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) -- a collaborative body of more than 600 forensic science practitioners and experts who recommend forensic science consensus standards and guidelines. Complying with NFPA 921 can support a fire investigator's opinion; not complying can result in serious challenges to your testimony.
NFPA 921 also offers essential guidance on:
- Using the scientific method in origin and cause investigations
- Documenting an investigation so that all relevant facts are gathered for future use in court
- Handling fire-related evidence so that it's admissible in court
- Understanding many of the terms related to explosion and fire investigations
Changes in the 2017 edition reflect user needs in a challenging field.
- Chapter 1 was revised to support Fire Marshal and Fire service organizations in the completion of reports from the National Fire Incident Report System (NFIRS). These reports were being misapplied and compared to Fire Investigation Reports during courtroom testimony. The committee added to scope of NFPA 921 to distinguish an NFIRS Report from a Fire Investigation Report and identified one should not be used in lieu of the other, especially when NFIRS are outside the scope of NFPA 921.
- Chapter 8, Fire Protection Systems, was renamed Active Fire Protection Systems since passive systems are addressed in Chapter 7, Building Systems. New images and illustrations were added based on NFPA 72®: National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code® and the Fire Protection Handbook.
- Updated Chapter 16, Documentation reflects technology breakthroughs in the areas of digital photography and 3D scanning.
- Chapter 18, Origin includes the concept of origin matrix addressing the impact of ventilation on origin determination.
Featuring additional new full-color images, especially for Fire Protection Images.
Full-color images, first added to the previous edition and continued for the 2017 edition, communicate and demonstrate key concepts and examples more clearly, so you gain a better understanding of the principles of fire and explosion investigation. Make sure you have the most up-to-date information on investigating fires and explosions in the 2017 edition of NFPA 921.(Softbound, Approx. 394 pp., 2017)
