Appliance Analysis Findings - Newsletter

August 2009

Earlier this month, Keith Beecher, founder of Appliance Analysis, presented to the North Dakota Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators. We thought that you might be interested in having access to the presentation.

Keith focused on the basics:

1. Indentifying appliance and their internal components
2. Applying the Scientific Method
3. Testing your hypothesis

The presentation is peppered with videos from real live appliance fire investigations. (Some videos are not yet available online, but we're working on it.) The presentation draws from Keith's 25 years of experience in appliance fire investigation and forensics. It seems that the more you know, the more you apply these basics to get to the root of the cause of any fire.

Was dryer operating or not at the time of the fire? Was there clothes in the drum? What type of material was being dried? Was the lint filter plugged? Is the venting plugged? Was there a pile of clothes along side of the dryer? Any air restrictions around the dryer? Check the gas supply and gas carrying devices. Check the electrical supply and the internal dryer electrical components. Electrical supply and electric dryer components

You can see the presentation here: http://www.applianceanalysis.com/presentation 1.html

If you find yourself with a claim or report of an "unexplained" appliance fire, please give Appliance Analysis a call and we'll bring our years of experience to you.