What was the origin of the fire that last Wednesday cost the life of a 70-year-old woman in Calatayud? Why was the victim unable to leave his bedroom? Was it an unfortunate accident or should criminal liability be cleared? Answering these and other questions will have to be dealt with by the Provincial Brigade of the Scientific Police, for which the so-called CSI of fire works: the team of specialists of the National Police Corps that is in charge of rummaging through ashes and debris every time find out if a fire or explosion was accidental or intentional. Fortunately, there are little more than a dozen investigations that are processed each year in the Aragonese capital. However, solving scams, fraud, and even murder depends on your sense of smell and skill in tracking the fire.
“The scene is distorted during the work of extinction and debris, so we always try to leave a graphic record of what we see and find from the first moment,” explains Pilar García, chief inspector of the Provincial Brigade of the Scientific Police, who leads since 2014. Today, his team has cameras capable of obtaining 360-degree images. But they also do not hesitate to resort to aerial shots from the helicopter when necessary, as happened last Wednesday in the Calatayud fire.
García insists that when it comes to working in catastrophic situations, such as fires or explosions, research is always carried out “from the outside in”, “from the general to the detailed”. The objective: to get to the root or origin of the events. “As soon as we arrive at a building devastated by fire, the priority is to analyze the window through which the flames have come from the street. Little by little, we are getting closer to the focus, looking for a logic to the chain of events ”, underlines the head of the brigade.
The CSI del Fuego cannot ignore inconsistencies. “We have to confirm that there are no secondary sources, independent of the main one, which we understand are unconnected,” says the specialist, who gives as an example the conflagration that in May 2012 destroyed a huge ship in the Cogullada industrial estate. The owners ended up before the judge. «The fire broke out in a large warehouse where merchandise from an oriental bazaar was kept. With the help of a dog specialized in the detection of accelerators – such as gasoline or similar -, we discovered that the flames had been fanned, because the greatest destruction was concentrated in an area where crockery and ceramics were kept, something that did not have any logic “, recalls the inspector.
Debts and personal problems
It is precisely indications of this type that lead ‘scientists’ to suspect an alleged intentionality. In that case, the lengthy investigation allowed to demonstrate that the two arrested caused the fire to benefit from the succulent insurance policy signed just a month before. Of course, García clarifies that these cases “are few, less than we are used to thinking.” “And they are usually linked to compromising situations, such as a corporate debt or some personal problem”, he points out.
The ‘puzzles’ that the Scientist faces become, at times, much more complicated than desired. “In a fire, by sheer logic, evidence always disappears, they end up consumed by flames, and in those cases you have to pull the thread in another way,” says García. In situations of this type, the manual advises to always check the electrical installations. «We check if the origin is in a short circuit, in the overload of a power strip, plug or cable … We can rule out this possibility by looking at the status of the components. If a wire has been melted and the coppers are in parallel, the origin is not electrical. But when the coppers appear welded, it leads us to think that the fire comes from the installation itself. The same happens with the painting, which remains in one way or another according to the path that the flames have traveled, “he clarifies.
But the main thing is to find accelerators, the real key in cases that turn out to be intentional. For this reason, the taking of samples is essential before the place of the event is distorted excessively by the removal of debris and the necessary work of the firefighters or the municipal architecture service.
The Scientific Police investigated a fortnight of fires throughout 2020, a figure on the average of previous years. Of course, the investigation of a deflagration also tends to slide in the work of the unit. So, the inspector says, the path is less complicated: «The first thing we check is whether the gas tap has been tampered with. Here the origin is easier to find for a simple reason: the explosions generate a fireball that self-extinguishes in a matter of seconds. This means that objects can remain intact along with others that end up destroyed.
“The DNA lab should arrive soon”
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DNA tests have become one of the main tools of the Scientific Police when it comes to clarifying the responsibility of any crime: from a simple robbery, to a rape or murder. Analysis of biological remains can also be essential in clearing up an intentional fire or explosion. However, these samples now have to be sent to the general police station in Madrid, which inevitably delays the resolution of some cases. Hence, the specialists of the Provincial Brigade of Zaragoza long to have their own genetic laboratory soon.
“The DNA laboratory could arrive soon,” says Pilar García, chief inspector at the head of the Scientist. «We trust that the new Superior Headquarters, which now seems closer, will have this important equipment. It would be great to also have a chemical laboratory, but I assume this will be a bit more difficult. “, indicates. The building that houses the current Headquarters, on the Paseo de María Agustín, has become small and obsolete. And after many years of negotiations, it finally seems that there is a clear will to retire him to build new and modern facilities in the old Portillo station, next to the Caixa Forum.
But the collaboration between the ‘scientists’ of Zaragoza and those of the capital of Spain will continue to be essential when solving cases. In fact, there is the canine unit specialized in the Detection of Fire Accelerators (DAF), which was used in cases such as the fire of a warehouse in a Chinese bazaar in Cogullada. “It was one of his dogs that marked the presence of the chemical with which the flames had been fanned,” recalls Pilar García.
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