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Fire & Explosions

Bob Svare started out investigating alleged electrical fires based on his experience as a master electrician repairing damaged electrical systems.  He noticed that very few of the electrical services that he was called upon to repair had resulted in anything close to a fire.  As he experimented with electricity as a potential fire cause he realized that the cause of many fires was erroneously blamed on electricity, perhaps as a convenience, or out of a lack of a proper understanding of electricity’s true capabilities to cause ignition.

 Our company’s hands-on method of investigating fires is based on this need to verify the true role that electricity plays in fire cause by practical experience, research and experimentation.  To accomplish this goal of verification we are active in the following areas:

• Svare Professional Engineering’s staff are active in setting (legal) fires and causing explosions, both by electrical and non-electrical means, in order to establish baseline data pertinent to both kinds of incidents.  We have been involved in hundreds of fire sets in structures while coordinating with various fire, law enforcement, government agencies, and corporations.  We were some of the earliest pioneers in the usage of computers to record temperatures and other aspects of fire development in order to establish a baseline for reality versus myth and probable versus possible.  We have also been instrumental in creating and documenting gas explosions in structures where electricity has played a part as a competent source of ignition.

Our fire sets and explosions have been in cooperation with, in part; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Fire Arms (ATF), multiple state and local fire marshal's offices, the International Association of Fire Investigators (IAAI), the London Fire Brigade and state and local law enforcement agencies.

• We are active in the worldwide teaching of courses and the presentations of seminars in electrical causation to other investigators, insurance personnel, law enforcement and government agencies.  These activities are usually based on a hands-on approach to teaching that gets the students intimately involved in trying “what if” scenarios with real world materials and electrical sources.  Rather than having the students simply trust what we say, we encourage them to try their theories in actual fire sets.  Two very important benefits to our staff from this teaching is the practice in clarifying and presenting our findings to others, including our clients and courts of law; along with a chance to challenge old theories while trying out new theories and investigative techniques.

Our classes and seminars have included such entities, in part:

• The Ministry of Public Security, Beijing, China.
• New South Wales Association of Fire Investigators, Australia.
• United Kingdom Forensic Science Society.
• International Advanced Fire Causation and Courtroom Techniques course at the ATF National Academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia.
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Fairfax, Virginia.
• Kentucky Police Academy in Frankfort, Kentucky.
• Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

We are also the originators of the electrical section of the ATF ACOCT course in 1992, taking the course on the road to the New York City Fire Academy, Portland Oregon, London, Australia and the ATF Fire Research Laboratories, Washington, DC.

We introduced the early usage of Arc Fault Mapping in a bar/restaurant fire in 1981 and in a 90 hour class for investigators in 1986 and presented a paper on the topic to the Peoples Republic of China in 1988.  We have since taught this powerful tool of investigation to thousands of investigators worldwide, including introducing it to the London Fire Brigade and United Kingdom investigators in 1999.

To this day, we continue to conduct and attend classes, burn structures, and do laboratory testing to increase our knowledge about the role electricity plays in fires and explosions.