BOISE, Idaho — Andrew Hostad is a fire investigator with Boise National Forest, and he provides a demonstration to show us how he conducts a fire investigation.
So far this year, there have been wildfires started by fireworks, campfires, shooting targets, and lightning. Hostad uses a scientific method using fire pattern indicators to not only discover the cause, but also rule out all of the other possibilities.
WATCH| Check out the video to see the demonstration
"So we have different indicators, and you start to see a picture," said Hostad during a demonstration. "We know if it is backing here, we got our sides, and the advancing here at some point we are going to find an area that becomes our specific point of origin."
Fire investigators go through classroom training and field training on eight to ten fires depending on their level of experience. Investigators like to get on scene as fast as they safely can, they get briefed by the incident commander and narrow down the area they will concentrate their work.
"Looking at the totality of all those indicators, we trace our way back to the origin area," said Hostad. "That’s where we start a detailed grid looking for any evidence left behind that might have caused that ignition."
Fire investigators look at what the weather has been doing, what kind of fuels are in the area, what kind of recreation takes place in the area and they talk to possible witnesses.
"Humans have found copious amounts of ways to start fires," said Hostad. "Nationally, nine out of ten fires are started by people and every fire necessitates a response."
If fire investigators find a responsible party, they will turn the investigation over to law enforcement while assisting with what could become a civil or criminal charge. Fire investigators also work to figure out the cause so they can inform the public on how to be safer on fire prevention, and it's a critical time for that with fires burning all over the region.
"All fires have a suppression cost, and it means we are putting firefighters at risk," said Hostad. "It takes them away from being able to be ready to respond to the ones we can’t prevent with lightning, and we all have a responsibility to prevent wildfires."
