Fire Modeling in Fire Investigations

SPEAKER:

Mike Ross
Fire Investigator
Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM)

Mike Ross is currently employed as a Fire Investigator with the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) for 19 years. Mike has been the lead investigator for over 650 fires and explosions within the OFM mandate and has been directly involved with both the Training and Quality Assurance components. Mike has qualified as an expert in excess of 30 times within all levels of court in Ontario. Mike currently possesses both a Master’s and Bachelors of Fire Sciences, as well as a Graduate Degree of Forensic Science in Fire Investigations (with emphasis in Fire Dynamics and Fire Modeling). Mike has also participated in hundreds of live compartment fire demonstrations as both the instructor and student, as well as case specific analyses. Mike has also authored a number of articles within the Canadian Association of Fire Investigator’s Journal (CAFI) on compartment fire dynamics and fire modeling.

SYNOPSIS:

The material being covered is the use of Fire Modeling within Fire Investigation’s. The lecture will cover the two most used fire modeling applications, empirical correlations, and computer fire modeling, within fire investigations. The material will discuss why you would want to use a fire model and where it is specifically valuable as well as its limitations. The presentation will utilize segments from the Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) focusing on testing hypotheses (within scientific method framework) as it relates to the Area of Fire Origin Determinations, Evaluation of Witness statements and Timeline Analysis. A case study involving the types of modeling will be utilized.

ITINERARY: