Fire Investigation - Cigarette as a Possible Cause of Fire - Case Study Example

FIRE INVESTIGATION Name Institution Lecturer Course Date Fire Investigation Introduction Smokers have been considered as great enemies to environmentalists and firefighters because carelessly disposed cigarette butts not only pollute the environment, but may also cause fire. Fire fighting agencies and government departments have stepped up campaigns against careless disposal of cigarette butts claiming that smoking-related fire incidents are increasingly becoming common (FEMA 2010). Fire occurs when heat is applied to a fuel in the presence of oxygen and the application of this theory shows that a burning cigarette butt can indeed cause fire. Consequently, cigarettes have been considered the cause of fire in different incidents especially if smoking activity was seen shortly before fire started (Brittain & Hermann 2013). While this may be true, it is worth considering that such an assumption may hinder further investigations yet smoking was not the cause of the fire but just a mere coincidence. Nevertheless, in some cases it is crystal clear that smoking indeed caused fire (Gorman 2013). In order to shed light on this issue, this paper looks into how smoking can cause fires by applying theory and looking into cases where smoking was blamed as the probable cause of fire. The paper finds that smoking is indeed a major cause of fire accidents some of which have claimed several lives and injured several people. Cigarette as a Possible Cause of Fire Various fire fighting and governmental agencies have considered careless cigarette disposal as a leading cause of major and minor fires. Researchers have sought to authenticate these claims and results clearly show that cigarette smoking is a major cause of fires particularly careless disposal of cigarette lights and butts (Leistikow, Martin & Milano 2000; Fire & Rescue NSW 2012). FEMA (2010) gives a worrying figure of about 1000 Americans dying from home fires caused by cigarettes. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), there were 90,000 cases of fires caused by smoking materials including lighters, burning cigarette and burning cigarette butts (NFPA 2014). These fires caused 540 deaths, 1,640 injuries and property damage worth over 600 US dollars (NFPA 2014). Statistics from NFPA shows an increasing trend in fire accidents arising from smoking-related activities since in 2004, 69,500 cases were reported and these rose to 82,400 in 2005 and later to 90,000 in 2013 as shown in figure 1 (Hall 2007 & NFPA 2014). The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) gives similar statistics (NAAG 2013). Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Services (2011) indicate that 50 percent of home fires are caused by cigarette and cigarette materials. In Australia, the Department of Fire & Emergency Services (DFES) indicates that cigarette butts are among the leading causes of fires especially when smokers carelessly dispose cigarette butts. The monumental number of cigarette butts discarded, of which DFES indicates that Australians discard over 7 billion of them (DFES 2014), exacerbates the seriousness of cigarette butts as a leading cause of fire accidents. Still in Australia, a study conducted by a station officer, Paul Scott, to find if cigarette butts can cause fire, 4 percent of carelessly discarded cigarette butts caused fire on dry grass especially on a windy day (Fire & Rescue NSW 2012). Although it is hard to rely on the results of a single experiment especially because the trials were controlled, it means that Australia experiences several cigarette-caused fires considering the statistics given by DFES. Statistics given by these governmental agencies and departments are worrying to the extent that one may wonder whether these figures are true. Is it that these government departments want to threaten smokers in the effort to reduce smoking, which has numerous health and environmental consequences? Is that these statistics are just there to warrant punitive measures (including heavy fines) on people caught carelessly discarding cigarette and/or cigarette light (NAAG 2013; DFES 2014 & NFPA 2014)? A research overview conducted by Leistikow, Martin & Milano (2000) authenticated these statistics. In the overview, the researchers found that smoking was the leading cause of fire accidents at homes in eight countries (Leistikow, Martin & Milano 2000). Before drawing a conclusion based on these statistics, it is important to understand how a cigarette or a cigarette butt can cause fire using the theory of fire dynamics. Figure 1: Trend in smoking-related cases in the U.S since 2004 (Hall 2007 & 2014) Fire Theory The fire triangle is useful in understanding how fire starts. In particular, the fire triangle outlines the three fire ingredients and how they interact to cause fire as shown in figure 1. Figure 2: The fire triangle As shown in figure 1, there are three requirements for fire to start, which include heat, fuel and oxygen (Ventura County Fire Department 2009). Fuel is any combustible material and it could be a solid, liquid or gas. Examples of fuel include cloth, wood, wood chippings, petrol, oil, diesel, kerosene, plastics and sawdust just to mention a few. Sources of heat include, for example, a focusing lens that concentrates sunrays, an electric spark such as from a loose electrical connection and friction such as striking a match. Finally, oxygen is freely and readily available in the air we breathe. For fire to occur the fuel must be exposed to air and the temperature of the heat must exceed the ignition temperature of the fuel (Grimwood 2008). Some other factors also affect the start of fire and they include moisture content, fuel density and oxygen concentration. At high moisture contents, it may be hard to start fire on solid fuels such as sawdust, which makes water one of the materials commonly used to stop some fires (especially where fuel is a solid) by increasing moisture content thereby preventing further fire starting mechanisms. Ways through Which A Cigarette Can Start Fire Based On Fire Theory and Reported Cases Based on this theory, a cigarette can cause fire if a person drops a burning cigarette or cigarette butt on a fuel. For example, if a burning cigarette butt drops on dry grass, it will easily exceed the ignition temperature of dry grass and cause fire to surrounding grass. A burning cigarette produces a lot of heat with Krasny (1987) indicating that this could be as much as 850C. Experimental investigations show than the temperature of a burning cigarette is about 2130C during smoldering and as high as 11480C during puffing (Liu & Woodcock 2002; Liu n.d). Ignition temperature of various fuels is much lower than the smoldering temperature of a burning cigarette. For example, the ignition temperature of paper is 2180C (Schottke 2014) while that of wood is 1730C (Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] 1995). This means that a smoldering cigarette or burning cigarette but will easily cause fire on dry wood and paper as well as on other fuels if the temperature of the smoldering cigarette exceeds the ignition temperature of the fuel. This may, however, take some time considering that heat from the burning cigarette butt is not intense to cause fire immediately. Wind speed determines the success of the burning cigarette butt to cause fire on the grass. Very high wind speeds might extinguish the cigarette butt while moderate wind speeds will blow the glowing cigarette butt to cause flame, which will then cause fire on grass. In his study, Paul Scott found that increase in wind speed increased the percentage of successful fire trials (Fire & Rescue NSW 2012). High wind speeds also makes it possible to start fire on wet fuels (Fire & Rescue NSW 2012). On June 5, 2013, a carelessly dropped cigarette butt was found to be the most likely cause of a huge fire that destroyed a hardware store on Capitol Hill. Investigations into the cause of fire narrowed on two possible causes, a burning cigarette butt dropped by a 23-year-old employee and electrical sparks from “a jumble of wires and electrical cords” (Brittain & Hermann 2013, para. 3). However, a surveillance video had recorded the 23-year-old employee smoking about half an hour or so before the fire was noticed and reported. Investigations further identified a plastic bucket that employees usually used during smoking breaks suggesting that the employee left a burning cigarette butt in the bucket, which started fire on the plastic bucket before spreading to other fuels (Brittain & Hermann 2013). A cigarette or cigarette butt burns in a slow smoldering process and if there is sufficient supply of oxygen, burning will proceed until the cigarette or cigarette butt is over. This is so because the components of a cigarette, mainly ground tobacco leaves, are tightly compacted, which makes it easy for fire on one particle to move to the next particle. Indeed, this is the reason why if one lights a cigarette and holds it in the air, it will burn even without smoking it especially if one holds it in such a position that it is easy for ash to drop off. Accumulation of ash tends to put off the fire by limiting oxygen supply. If the cigarette or cigarette butt is in contact with a solid fuel, heat from the burning cigarette will exceed the solid’s ignition temperature causing fire. A chain reaction is then established whereby fire will start on every fuel nearby. This was probably what happed in this case because the store was tightly packed with various items including wood, cement and paint among others. A commercial fan blowing air throughout the store might have promoted to the cigarette causing fire (Brittain & Hermann 2013). Paul Scott had earlier found that high wind speeds increased the chances of a burning cigarette to cause fire by increasing the amount of oxygen, which is a requirement for fire to start (Fire & Rescue NSW 2012). Similarly, in this case, the blowing fan increased oxygen flow thereby supporting the burning cigarette butt to continue burning for some time to cause fire on the bucket and later on other items nearby. Although one cannot fully eliminate the possibility of electrical sparks causing fire, this probability is low than that of the cigarette causing the fire considering that the video footage had already recorded the worker smoking about half an hour before fire was reported. Additionally, the owner of the store indicated that his workers often used the bucket for smoking breaks and it is highly possible that they had left several unfinished cigarettes and cigarette butts (Brittain & Hermann 2013). Accordingly, if the 23-year-old worker believed to have caused fire dropped a burning cigarette butt on other pieces of cigarettes and cigarette butts, the burning cigarette butt might have ignited those pieces. Lighting a cigarette does not necessarily require a glowing flame as evidenced by the ability to light a cigarette using a car cigarette lighter. As such, the heat from the burning cigarette butt probably lit other cigarettes ad cigarette butts left in the bucket, which created a “perfect storm” situation where fire grew in the bucket before spreading to other items. In another incident, a nurse carelessly dropped a burning cigarette butt that caused fire in a nursing home killing 16 people and injuring 11 others (Interfax 2011). Investigations into the cause of the fire quickly narrowed down to cigarette smoking because it was found that one of the nurses taking care of the nursing home had smoked shortly before the fire erupted (Interfax 2011). Although one cannot be 100 percent sure that the cigarette butt caused the fire, failure to dispose the cigarette butt properly and responsibly might have caused the fire. The burning cigarette butt might have gotten into contact with various fuels such as plastics and papers causing fire on them. This is however a tricky situation because it is hard to determine how the nurse disposed the cigarette butt. Investigators out to have sought to learn the general behavior among smokers in the nursing home and particularly where they used to smoke, whether there were ash trays and whether they used to drop cigarette butts in dustbins. This way, investigators could have developed a good theory behind cigarette butt being the cause of the fire. Some fuels such as petrol and spirits have very low ignition temperatures and contact between the burning cigarette (or cigarette butt) and the fuel is not necessary to cause fire and consequent explosion. The heat from the burning cigarette is enough to cause fire on such fuels when a smoker gets close to the fuel or when a smoker carelessly drops a burning cigarette or cigarette butt near the fuel. Some fuels are highly volatile and once the container holding the fuel (volatile liquids and gases) is open, these fuels easily escapes into the atmosphere such that small amount of heat is enough to cause fire and explosion. Areas where such risks are extremely high include gas filling stations, areas surrounding petroleum pipes, inside or around petrol cars, animal sheds with high methane concentrations, near biogas digesters, near septic tanks and laboratories. Other areas include houses with leaking cooking gas and around cars used to transport car fuel, cooking gas, welding gas and laboratory chemicals. Mostly, these areas have labels that warn people not to smoke while inside or near such areas. If a person happens to smoke near such areas such as gas filling stations, the fuel-filled atmosphere can ignite and this may cause explosion and consequent uncontrollable fire. On 16th October 2013, a Georgia man, Austin Dawkins (37 years) accidentally caused fire when he lit a cigarette near his car gas tank during gas refilling process (Gorman 2013). A video footage of the same incidence shows the man and his wife talking when a petrol station attendant was refilling their car. Dawkins then carelessly lit his cigarette and the heat from the cigarette lighter immediately caused an explosion. During the process, his wife suffered severe burns as she was running away while their car and a truck packed behind them burned (Fire Engulfs Woman at Petrol Station 2013). Although the cigarette was not the cause of the fire, this case clearly shows the nature of petrol and other highly volatile fuels that fill surrounding atmosphere with fuel. Since these fuels usually have very low ignition temperatures, a small heat will easily cause fire and explosion. This case shows that even if Dawkins came with a burning cigarette near the open gas tank of his car, the heat from the burning cigarette would still be enough to cause an explosion of the same magnitude. Conclusion In as much as smoking may be considered the probable cause of fire in cases where it is inappropriate, it cannot be fully eliminated especially if smoking activity was noticed shortly before the fire incidence. However, smoking should not act as a scapegoat to prevent fire investigators from further investigations to identify several probable caused and conduct analysis to find the most probable cause. Nevertheless, smoking can cause fire; it has caused fire, killed many and injured several others. All smokers should observe positive smoking behaviors if they cannot stop this risky behavior. 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