An Inside Look at How Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office Investigators Investigate Fires and Explosions | The Canadian News

When a major fire or explosion occurs, firefighters, police, paramedics, emergency volunteers, and journalists often rush to the scene in response.

But when it comes to conducting the complex scientific investigations needed in the immediate aftermath to get to the bottom of how and why such a devastating event happened, it is up to a highly trained team of experts from the Fire Marshal’s Office. Ontario (OFM). ) – a provincial agency founded in 1916.

“It is our job to determine the origin and cause of that fire and if there is a way to prevent a similar incident, we want to do it … we want to take proactive action,” Steve Wilson, the OFM deputy deputy fire chief, told Global News while also reflecting on the emotional toll that office responsibilities can sometimes take on your staff.

“We ask our researchers, engineers and specialists to do some of the most difficult research on behalf of the province, so it is important that we have the support of our people to help them manage (there is a psychotherapist on staff and OFM rely on a peer support network) … are dealing with devastation and death all the time.

“There is a great weight on their shoulders because they want to bring together everyone who has been affected by that incident.”

OFM is called in to investigate fires where there are deaths, serious injuries, or suspected arson. The agency is also tasked with investigating explosions, including those at clandestine drug laboratories. When a significant loss is experienced ($ 500,000 or more in damage, or more than double the average residential sales price in the community), that will also trigger an investigation.

In 2020, the agency examined approximately 650 fires and explosions, and in a full complement of staff there are 26 principal investigators, plus other scientists and experts who will take charge of those investigations. Under the Fire Prevention and Protection Act, investigators have the authority to enter the property to conduct investigations and will work with the police if it is determined to be a crime. The staff also act as experts in criminal court proceedings.

Over the summer, Global News spent time with a team of new OFM recruits to better understand the office and the role it plays.

As part of the team’s training, they attended a series of live exercises on Seneca College’s Newnham campus, where instructors and students from pre-service fire and firefighter training programs, under carefully controlled conditions, simulated a variety of burns in singular rooms such as a lit cigarette on a sofa (a scenario that took several minutes for the flames to develop), arson and one in lighters.

Manny Garcia, an OFM training specialist, said the biggest cause of fires and deaths in the province has to do with cooking and not paying attention. He said that smoking in bed and people who smoke near oxygen tanks are also to blame.

When it comes to the biggest misconception about fire investigations, which typically involves crews initially being on the scene for two to five days before conducting further analysis in the weeks after, Garcia said it is widely believed to be almost impossible to find out what happened.

“That is not true. It’s amazing how much actually survives the fire … in the case of burning fires started by a cigarette, we can find the real cigarette as long as the suppression system doesn’t eliminate it, ”he said.

It is not until a fire is extinguished that OFM will hit a site and when crews do, their first priority is to make sure that buildings are structurally sound and that utilities are disconnected before they enter. When he’s safe, Garcia said the key question is determining the source of the fire.

“Is this a fire that happened outside and spread inwards or is it an inside fire that then spread outside? So we do it by taking a walk around the building, examining the fire patterns, seeing what fuel is available, and that’s another reason we tell people to make sure they keep the outside house clean and tidy. ” said.

“Let’s say the fire is inside the building, then we start our interior analysis so that we can determine which is our room of origin and where that fire started and then once we have determined the room of origin, we try to determine the area source within that room and see what ignition sources were there.

“If you can’t find the area of ​​origin, you can’t determine the cause of the fire.”

Garcia said that inside a building, researchers start with the areas least consumed by the fire before moving on to the most damaged, adding that the level of damage does not necessarily indicate where the fire started (for example, higher oxygen levels could cause further damage).

After isolating a room or area, Garcia said the researchers will divide the space into rooms, sometimes scooping the contents out of the area after thoroughly photographing it, placing items through sieves, and sometimes reconstructing the space as it was found. for the first time. He said firefighters will sometimes be called in to spray the floor, adding a clean surface can reveal more clues.

“What am I looking at? Am I looking at electrical? Was there an extension cord that was being used incorrectly? Was there a power bar that was really not up to standards? Were they smoking in that area? Was there one? Trash can? Were they there? Were there candles? These are the things you’re looking for, “he said, going over the things investigators might ask.

“For something to burn up, it has to go from a solid state when heated, to a vapor state and then that’s really what burns. So at some point, there will be some of that residue left if it doesn’t change completely and that’s what we’re seeing, what’s left, what’s consumed, what hasn’t happened yet.

As for the explosions, Garcia said it is also about determining the area of ​​origin.

“You start looking, was it natural gas? Was it propane? Was there a fire and then an explosion or was there an explosion and then a fire? And you can say, for example, if you find broken glass and the glass has no soot, you know very well that you are seeing that explosion first instead of fire and then an explosion, “he explained.

When it comes to fire safety and protection in Ontario, local Ontario fire services also have a role to play. Many municipal fire services have sections that specifically address compliance with the Ontario Fire Code.

Larry Cocco, deputy fire chief for community risk reduction for Toronto Fire Services (TFS), Canada’s largest service, said TFS typically investigates 200 to 250 fires. Like OFM, TFS staff are tasked with understanding the cause of these fires with a view to prevention.

“If we don’t know our fire risk, how can we determine our fire safety concerns in the community?” Cocco said.

Using local data, Cocco said TFS fire prevention officers can implement inspection programs based on risk and common trends. For example, while responding to a fire in an apartment building in 2016, the utility experienced a “major failure” in the standpipe (the source of water for firefighters to connect to).

“It really challenged our removal,” he recalled, adding that when they began investigating the problem they discovered that there was nothing in the Ontario Fire Code that required testing risers in older buildings.

Cocco said the service randomly audited 100 older buildings after that initial problem and found a “remarkable failure rate.” He said the probe ultimately resulted in a code change, and as a result, there are now mandatory five-year tests for those structures.

While Toronto has seen major incidents like the Sunrise Propane explosion in 2008 and the Toronto Badminton and Racquet Club fire in 2017, both prompting a vast array of resources to put out, the fires that heavily impact people are at a very high level. more personal.

“The size of the fire does not affect the process. We follow the exact same process regardless of the incident, ”Cocco said.

He noted that the three most common sources of ignition for fires in Toronto are unsupervised cooking, improper disposal of smoking materials, and electrical fires (appliances that have been misused or modified).

Officials reiterated the need to keep smoke alarms working within the properties.

“If you don’t have a working smoke alarm, the thing that will probably wake you up is that you are choking on smoke that you won’t be able to escape from. You basically have two, maybe three minutes to get out, and there’s no way you’re going to set everything on a smoke alarm, not at three in the morning, ”Garcia said.

“Not only do you need to have a working smoke alarm, but you also need a fire exit plan and it should be practiced, especially with children.”