What Every Property Adjuster Should Know About …

Fire Investigations:

1. Fire investigations are governed by NFPA 921, published by the National Fire Protection Association.  NFPA 921 is a guide for use by investigators and is not a legal document.
2. Fire Investigators are certified as Certified Fire Investigators (CFI) or Certified Fire and Explosion Investigators (CFEI).
3. In the state of Tennessee, fire investigators are also required to be licensed by the state as private investigators.  If necessary, check your state to see if additional licenses are required.
4. Fire investigation of a structure (or vehicle) is the responsibility of the law enforcement authorities.  Only after the authorities have released “the scene” can a civil investigation proceed.
5.  Acceptable conclusions for the cause of a fire include intentional, accidental, and undetermined.
6. There are times when the cause and origin of a fire are not as important as determining if your insured can be implicated in the cause.  Situations do arise where several parties are affected by a massive fire.  Although the cause and origin might not be determinable, it is prudent to determine if the insured can be held culpable.  Sometimes it’s about whether a product is under warranty or who did the work.  These scenarios assume that a fire cannot be attributed to arson or vandalism.
7. Evidence must be handled carefully.  All parties identified in connection with a fire investigation have to be given notice and allowed to participate in any examination of evidence taken from a fire scene.

The pictures below serve to illustrate some of the investigations that we have been involved with.

Fire Damaged marina, several boats involved, cause and origin undetermined, insured boat owner eliminated as potentially culpable party

Paper Shredder thought to have been the cause and origin of a residential fire due to poor maintenance

Dryer Fire due to accumulation of lint

Fire in senior living center due to electrical short in room A/C unit

Residential structure explosion due to broken gas line

Residential structure fire due to misuse of stove

Defective Products

1. A defective product is one which is unreasonably dangerous and cannot be used for its intended purpose.
2. The test for a defective product is that it had to have had the defect at the time it left the possession of the manufacturer.
3. Not only can be manufacturer be held liable for manufacturing a defective product but, anyone in the distribution/handling chain can also be held liable.
4. Many times, a recall search can identify a recalled product. The Consumer Product Safety Commission maintains a website and database that lists products that have been identified as hazardous to consumers and recalled. The CPSC website address is http://www.cpsc.gov.
5. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also maintains a website and database that has identified defective cars and trucks. Their website is located at http://www.nhtsa.gov. The NHTSA is searchable by vehicle make and year model as well as vehicle identification number.
6. When products have been recalled, investigation of defective products cases becomes a much simpler matter because most of the work has already been done. However, when a product has not been recalled, then the investigator must determine if the product meets the criteria given in #1 and 2 above.

Watch Those Connections!

Some appliances such as stoves and dryers, do not come with line cords when the appliances are purchased.  As a result, consumers have to make separate purchases in order to use their new machines.  When attaching the cords to the appliance, pay close attention to the way the manufacturer requires that the line cords are connected.  For many do-it-your-selfers, this is no big deal.  It shouldn’t be a big deal for a professional electrician either.  However, we are all human and subject to making mistakes.  Case-in-point: the following dryer fire.  Although minor as residential fires go, the damage could have been much worse.  The photographs shown below illustrate how the manufacturer called for the installation of the line cord and the subsequent way, the cord was connected.

The manufacturer’s schematic drawing shows how the “hot” (red and black wires) lines of the line cord were to be attached to the L1 and L2 terminal block terminals.  The common line or white wire was to be connected to the N terminal on the terminal block.  Lastly, the green wire or earth ground, was to be connected directly to the appliance housing.  The photograph below shows how the white and black wires were reversed on the terminal block.

 

 

Since the common and earth ground points are electrically the same point, the dryer was, in effect, energized through the housing.  Anything in contact with the dryer housing, such as the exhaust duct, will also become energized.  Dryer ventilation ducts are usually coils of steel wire wrapped with a thin layer of vinyl or aluminum material.  As current flows through the steel wire, the external covering is heated.  If not stopped, the heat will cause the covering to melt and possibly ignite.