Effective February 28th, 2025, this edition and all supporting products will be out of print and will no longer be available for purchase. This includes the eBook and all print and digital support materials. This text has been replaced by Fire Investigator, 3rd Edition.

This 2nd Edition manual is designed to provide fire investigators with the resources necessary to meet the job performance requirements for fire investigators outlined in NFPA® 1033. Arson investigators, private and public fire investigators, officers responsible for origin and cause determination, and students training to become investigators will find this manual to be an essential resource. This edition has been reorganized to place more emphasis on area of origin and cause determination with explanded information about fire pattern analysis. The text includes but is not limited to the following topics:

• Safe practices for conducting an investigation
• Effects of fire and explosion science on fire investigation
• Building construction and building services
• Investigative process
• Protecting, documenting, and collecting evidence
• Conducting interviews
• Scene examination and reconstruction
• Area of origin determination
• Ignition source, sequence, and cause determinations

New material covered:

• Explosion dynamics
• Explosion scene examination
• Explosion origin and cause determination