Chief Fire Investigator EJ Stevens was on hand to run the burn portion of the project, as students investigated how the arson happened and the storyline behind their handmade built mini structures.

“The difficulty of determining whether arson has occurred arises because fire often destroys the key evidence of its origin,” said Stevens. “The students got to be fire investigators for the day where they looked at the fire remains and obtained information to reconstruct the sequence of events leading up to the fire.”

Students investigated the scene by evaluating the external and internal structure and determining the point of origin. They were then able to document and analyze the evidence, which led them to conclude the investigation.

“We are very fortunate to have EJ every year speaking to our students about the importance of forensics in fire investigation,” said SUPA forensics teacher Sue Larca. “It was great to see the students so engaged, what a fun day for forensics!”