Motor Vehicle Fire Investigation
Computer-Based Training

Introduction:
Automotive fires, though relatively infrequent, represent a serious concern to public safety as well as a significant cost to society. Further, they are often perplexing to fire investigators who must attempt to understand their causes. This computer-based course introduces concepts and methods for investigators interested in furthering their understanding of automotive fires. The course will provide a basic introduction to fire science and present investigative field and laboratory methods for determining the origin and cause of collision, non-collision, and intentional (arson) fires. Examples will be shown of non-arson fires that occurred as a result of surprisingly subtle sources of fuels and ignition.

Who is this course for?
The development of this course was funded for the training of the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) investigators and the Special Crash Investigation teams (SCI) at the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA). While it has been designed to suit NHTSA investigators, it was also intended to provide all fire investigators with the techniques and resources needed for research-based motor vehicle fire investigation.

Content:
The course begins with a discussion of applicable standards. The scientific method, as defined by NFPA 921 and required by the courts for qualifying expert witnesses, will be introduced as well. There will be a brief introduction to the science of automotive fires, with focus on the available fuels, ignition sources, combustible materials, and fire propagation paths for automobiles and heavy trucks. In addition to the information presented, there will be suggestions as to how an investigator may integrate and apply facts and think about investigations.

Case studies of actual investigations will form the basis for the course, with laboratory test results presented to highlight the field results. Methods of fire investigation will be introduced, including suggestions for information collection and interpretation.

Automotive arson will be considered as a special case. With an understanding of the characteristics of “accidental” fires as background, the possibilities and limits of arson determination will be explored, and the scientific tools and methods will be presented.

Sections will also provide background on emerging topics in vehicle fire investigation, including special considerations related to alternative vehicles, and an introduction to vehicle fire suppression systems as currently available and proposed.

In addition to the reference material included in the course, links will be provided to assist the investigator in finding published literature on vehicle fire investigation and related topics, publicly available video taped records of full-scale vehicle burn tests, vehicle data, crash test data, and standards. The bibliography alone contains recent and historic papers that form the basis of the state-of-the-art of motor vehicle fire investigation as it exists today.

Navigation:
This course is designed to be used in one of several ways, depending on your needs:

1) Consecutive Study: If you want to expose yourself to all the material in the course in order, simply click “Next” button at the top or bottom of each page. Doing so will walk you through the material in a comprehensive and orderly manner. The “Back” button on the top or bottom of the screen will always take you to the previous page in the course sequence (not necessarily the page you last viewed). If you entered a page by a search or through the index, and you want to return to the page you were viewing previously, use the “Back” key in your browser instead.

The index will automatically highlight your location in the course so you will always have a reference as to the context of the page you are viewing. The index will also automatically reveal sub-topics as you move into a topic area.

There will be some hyper text link options to view relevant material that is presented in a different part of the course. In such instances, a pop-up box will provide a means of returning to the page from which you originated so you may continue in order.

If you leave and return to the program, you can use the index to move directly to the place you left off.

2) Topic-specific Study: If you are interested in a particular topic, and do not wish to go through the entire course, links in the index may be used to find the information you need.

3) Reference Material: If you access the course material to review reference material on a given topic, you can use the index or the search function to find what you need.

Instructors:

Robert Scheibe is an Affiliate Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington, a researcher for the Washington State Transportation Center, and a consulting engineer with Exponent, Inc. in Bellevue, Washington. For the past 38 years, he has investigated numerous accidents and fires involving vehicles, and other equipment, and has expertise in the analysis of vehicle and product safety from the perspective of design, maintenance, and use. Dr. Scheibe holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in several states and is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator and Certified Vehicle Fire Investigator through the National Association of Fire Investigators.

Leland Shields has been an independent consultant with 36 years’ experience investigating collision and non-collision motor vehicle fires. He has also researched vehicle fires for the Washington State Transportation Center at the University of Washington. Mr. Shields is currently the president of Leland E. Shields, Incorporated in Seattle, Washington. His experience includes numerous inspections to determine the causes of fires, collisions, and injuries for incidents involving passenger cars, light trucks, heavy and recreational vehicles. He has also designed and executed instrumented vehicle-fire test programs to define specific conditions of fire initiation, propagation and mitigation. Mr. Shields has managed recall investigations to determine the root causes of particular vehicle models with fire-related issues including increased tendency to have non-collision fires. Mr. Shields has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Acknowledgements:
The development of this course was funded by the Motor Vehicle Fire Research Institute, and with the cooperation of NHTSA. We would like to thank Dr. Kennerly Digges, Dr. Rhoads Stephenson, and the staff of the NHTSA for their suggestions and assistance with the project. We also thank Henry Velick, Jeff Zeunert, and Zach Romano, who programmed this website, and Mark Hallenbeck and his staff at the University of Washington Transportation Research Center (TRAC), who produced and hosted the site.