Catching an Arsonist + first aid for dogs caught in a fire

Captcha said:

I want one of my characters to burn down his brother's house, and I want him to get caught. The arsonist is a life-long criminal, but has no history of arson, so he shouldn't be totally naive, but shouldn't be a master of the craft, either. If he's a life-long criminal with a history of getting caught, he might not be naive, but he's stupid. AMERICA'S DUMBEST CRIMINALS has to pick and choose which ones to feature. They've got more than enough to keep the show running for decades.

I'd like it if there was an investigation, and the investigators found that the fire had been started inside the house somewhere. Firefighters can identify unusual fire patterns from the exterior. You just know when something isn't right. The brother has two big dogs, so the fact that the arsonist was able to get past them to start the fire would cast suspicion on people the dogs know, but I don't think that's enough to totally incriminate the brother. No, and it wouldn't even probably be brought into the courtroom.

So... can anyone tell me:

A - if I say something about the investigators having found evidence of accelerant around the fireplace, would that make sense? Make it clearly arson, I mean? Initially you'd identify it by it's unusual burn pattern. Accelerants burn differently than your typical fireplace fire, which usually starts in the log pile or newspaper storage. With accelerants, you'd see a lot more scorching. Then you either bring in a dog to sniff, or take samples that produce a chemical reaction.

B - what extra clue(s) could the investigators find that would make it clear that the brother was involved. I don't want him to be totally stupid (like, he shouldn't have left a monogrammed handkerchief behind, or anything) and the clues could be found at the brother's apartment or on his person rather than at the fire site. Typical would be a charge for a gas can from Wal-Mart, followed by a charge for five gallons of gas. Both are likely to be recorded on video (Wal-Mart is especially well covered with video.) Visa is a wonderful thing for the police. In many cases, it's been priceless. Empty gas can found in car is suspicious. No answers to why he has this stuff is suspicious. Being at the scene of the fire (arsonists love to watch their destruction) when it's not in his neighborhood.

C - also, I'd like to have the dogs injured in the fire, but not killed or hurt badly enough that they should be put down. I'm thinking smoke inhalation... Assuming that makes sense, and assuming there was a human doctor on the scene, is there something the human doctor could do to help the dogs while they were being taken to the vet? There could be a human ambulance there, as well, and human (volunteer) firefighters, with whatever equipment they would have. There are no injured humans, so all first aid types would be able to focus on the animals... You don't need a human doctor. Many ambulances have a doggie mask for breathing. Otherwise, you take a nasal canula, cut of the nasal part so you just have a tube, and stick it down the dog's nose. Apparently, dogs do not breathe through their mouths very effectively. Lube on the tube is a good idea. About 4 - 6 liters of O2. Treatment for burns would be water to reduce the heat and smoking hair, and cover.

EMTs and firefighters are used to dealing with animals. And although we'll sacrifice a critter in a nano-second to save a human, if we've got the time, we'll save the pet.

Thanks for any help!

Click to expand...

Captcha said:

Excellent start, thanks!

The gas can seems kind of circumstantial, though... I mean, I have several jerry cans that I use for lawn mowers and chain saws and what not, but I'm not an arsonist... Is there anything more clearly sinister?

And he's burning the house for insurance money, not because he's a firebug, so he wouldn't have that same fascination with watching, I don't think.

Something more sinister could be the unassembled components of an improvised incendiary device (timer, ignition source, and fuel) found in his possession.

If your arsonist would benefit from insurance coverage, trust that the insurance company's investigators would be scrutinizing his possible involvement. They would work closely with the FD/LE arson investigators and mutually share their findings. Subsequent legal action could be both criminal and civil.

In a fire of suspicious origin, anyone who stands to benefit is considered a suspect until ruled out by the evidence.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Captcha said:

Excellent start, thanks!

The gas can seems kind of circumstantial, though... I mean, I have several jerry cans that I use for lawn mowers and chain saws and what not, but I'm not an arsonist... Is there anything more clearly sinister? Let's see, buy gas can at 8 AM, buy gas at 9 AM, fire starts at 10 AM. This sort of chain of events is hard to explain. Having gas can and no use for one. But arson is a hard crime to find good evidence of. Short of incendiary devices like Mike describes, you put together a bunch of little pieces and start asking questions. The gas can by itself isn't much, but what about his answer to why he just bought a new one?

Most of what you're going to put together for an arson case is a whole lot of little pieces, and maybe a statement from the guy who lit it. There are very rarely witnesses to the crime.

And he's burning the house for insurance money, not because he's a firebug, so he wouldn't have that same fascination with watching, I don't think. Satisfaction of a job well done. Satisfaction of watching all these people running around because of what he did. It isn't a big deal one way or another, but in the real world, I'd expect him to watch.

Or maybe I don't need something that will incriminate him legally, maybe I just need there to be enough for the brother to believe that it was him. But then the evidence would have to be something the brother would find, rather than surveillance video. Hmmm... If he doesn't need a gas can, the brother would wonder. And does he own a house and need to mow a lawn? Someone doing life on the installment plan usually doesn't have any need for lawn mowers and chainsaws.

Thanks for a great start, though!

Oh, and I WANT the human doctor to be on site (he's another character)... do you think he'd have any expertise that the ambulance guys wouldn't have? Of course he has expertise the EMTs wouldn't have. But how much of it would be useful here? I don't know enough about doctors to know how much they play "What if?" Firefighters and EMTs however play it a lot. It's how you train. So firefighters and EMTs have discussed this possibility. Would a doctor? Or maybe the ambulance guys don't get there in time. Standard first alarm for a structure fire is two or three engines, a ladder, and an ambulance/rescue. You want one there not only for any victims from the fire, but in case a firefighter gets hurt. Is there anything a doctor could do for the dogs without having special equipment with him? He could blow in the snout, but understand if a firefighter takes the effort to rescue a dog, he/she is not going to just dump it when he/she gets outside. You bring someone/something out of a fire, you start treatment. And firefighters and EMTs aren't likely to hand over to a doctor. If you've been in the business for a while, you hear about the doctor/nurse showing up at an emergency scene and f***ing it up brilliantly. Doctors and nurses who do not work in an emergency department have a bad habit of working in an organized fashion and field medicine is frequently very unorganized. Nor is it good for the public image to stop treatment for someone else to take over.

Click to expand...

Captcha said:

Excellent start, thanks!
Or maybe I don't need something that will incriminate him legally, maybe I just need there to be enough for the brother to believe that it was him. But then the evidence would have to be something the brother would find, rather than surveillance video. Hmmm...

Click to expand...