Open AccessForensic Engineering Investigations of Residential Clothes Dryer Fires
Author(s) -
William R. Keefe
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of the national academy of forensic engineers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.102
H-Index - 1
eISSN - 2379-3252
pISSN - 2379-3244
DOI - 10.51501/jotnafe.v35i1.56
Subject(s) - clothing , architectural engineering , forensic engineering , engineering , forensic science , containment (computer programming) , ignition system , fire safety , environmental science , flammability , fire protection engineering , waste management , civil engineering , computer science , archaeology , geography , aerospace engineering , programming language , physics , thermodynamics
Residential clothes dryers are common in the United States, and thousands of residential fires involving clothes dryers occur each year. Forensic engineers are called upon to conduct scientific analyses of the causative factors in these fires. Forensic engineering investigations of clothes dryer fires consider design, installation, use, and maintenance of clothes dryers as well as evaluate ignition sources, first fuel ignited, fire containment and fire spread. A forensic engineering methodology for investigation of clothes dryers will bepresented in this paper, drawing on experience from hundreds of residential clothes dryer fire investigations.