Police and Security, Vol. 21 No. 2, 2012.
Review article
About Features of Fires in Passenger Cars which are Significant for Criminal Investigation
Damir Kulišić
; Police Academy, Zagreb, Croatia
Goran Medić
; Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Investigators of fires and explosions, besides tactics and methods of criminal investigation of causes, manners, conditions and circumstances of their occurrence in motor vehicles and specific traceology of fires and explosions in vehicles, must know very well all components of common and special (additional) technical systems of motor vehicle construction, as well as their normal (safe) and possible hazardous functioning in case of fires and explosions. Due to the little space in passenger cars in which fire (or explosion) can occur and relatively great density and heat of combustion of (highly) flammable and combustible materials which can be inside the vehicle, fast development and specific power of fire in such vehicles can be greater than in the case of fire inside buildings of low and medium fire load. Thus, a large amount of evidence, which is important for criminal investigation because it can indicate to the possible cause and manner of fire occurrence in passenger cars, can be largely or almost completely destroyed. This paper draws the attention of investigators to the possible hazardous components of fire causes in passenger cars, to the risky spaces and construction components of such vehicles, to the very useful possible evidence of causes and manners of its occurrence, as well as to the motives of possible arson. The paper also gives the readers very useful list of recent references which thoroughly deal with the investigation of fire causes in such specific and technically complex kind of objects.
Keywords
passenger car; components of fire causes; manners of fire occurrence; motives of arson; fire evidence; arson evidence; forensic investigation of fires in cars
Hrčak ID:
87231
URI
Publication date:
15.9.2012.
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