Fire and explosion cases represent a special class of product liability litigation in which the scene has been altered suddenly, radically and often in totality by the very processes products (vehicles, stoves, heaters, compressors, and almost any other sort of appliance or machine) are accused of causing. This makes the scenes confusing, the evidence especially difficult to collect, and reconstructions complicated. Fire investigators know photographic evidence can be crucial, and plaintiffs' and defendants' experts often take many rolls of film. Since the electricity was off and everything is black at the scene, however, it is difficult to take and interpret photographs. Ebert & Associates uses digital image processing techniques to make important information as visible as possible, and then photogrammetric techniques and digital mapping to compile presise 3-dimensional maps or models of the entire scene which can be of vital importance in evaluating and placing cause and origin and other experts' reports in spatial context, and for example, answering such questions as exactly where burn patterns were in relation to the "accused" appliance, or how long the extension cord whould have been.
						Our approach is further explained in:
						King, Charles G. and James I. Ebert
							2002 Integrating Archaeology and Photogrammetry with Fire
						Investigation. Fire Engineering, February 2002, pp. 79-84.
						Request a copy and more information from Charles G. King Associates, 5 Jackson Court, Brooklyn NY 11209, (717) 833-7030. Link to Charles G. King Associates at www.charlesgkingassociates.com
©2003 Ebert & Associates, Incorporated