Fire Science

Battery failures are often the culprit in a large variety of fire investigations. We are uniquely positioned to determine the origin and cause of almost any battery fire. In recent years, lithium-ion batteries have become the dominant rechargeable battery chemistry for consumer electronics due to their higher energy densities. We help you to understand why lithium batteries fail and conduct analyses of battery remains to identify whether the battery was the origin of the fire and the mechanism of failure for the battery.

Fires in commercial cooking equipment occur frequently and lead to business interruption, lost revenue and significant repair costs. Our team of experts determine whether the fire was caused by a lack of maintenance, operating procedure, manufacturing defect or a failure of the suppression system. This information can be critical in receiving insurance payments or pursuing litigation.

We provide electrical forensic analysis of utility power, electrical distribution, appliances, electronics and battery systems to determine why a failure occurred. Any fire in a structure, vehicle, system or device will usually have an electrical system that powered or controlled its performance. We conduct testing and develop the forensic science used to evaluate electrical devices, including receptacles, low voltage devices and battery fires.

While the principles of fire dynamics are the same in vehicle fires as in structure fires, there are various other factors that make vehicle fire investigations unique and complex. Our research has been invaluable in determining the origin and cause of vehicle fires. We’re certified vehicle fire investigators (CVFI) through the National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI) and can deploy anywhere in North America.

Wildland fires are extremely complex phenomena that can happen at large scale, under varying atmospheric conditions, with a wide range of root causes. We can help you to identify the underlying contributors to wildland fires on your property and find the best solution to mitigate risks such as the impact on business operations and day-to-day activities. Our team will also help you understand how a fire started. Using our high-tech drones, we can investigate small and large-scale fires from both the ground and aerial perspectives.

Fire has a unique impact on concrete and its performance. Using our in-house concrete lab, we can provide you with insight into how a fire has impacted the performance of your concrete structure. Through our work in advising our clients on concrete behavior through all phases of the construction cycle, we are able to quickly identify the causes of cracking, explosive spalling and other key failure mechanisms that can affect your structure, set expectations for future safety, and help you remediate effectively.

Fire protection equipment and materials must be properly designed, supplied, installed and maintained to prevent wear and tear or they run the risk of not performing with high efficacy in the event of a fire. We conduct various fire forensic investigations on protection materials to determine omissions, flaws, detachments or deterioration that may have led to or increased a loss.

When there is a fire, it is critical that your fire alarm system works as it was designed. Improperly functioning life safety systems can significantly impact safe egress time and even increase the extent of property loss. Our team of engineers and technicians actively participate in fire alarm system codes and standards development and chair numerous National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) technical committees, providing research for the code development process and publishing industry commentary. We apply this vast experience in helping you determining whether a fire alarm system failure was a contributing factor to amplifying any loss.