Oftentimes the origin of a fire in places such as a living room, kitchen or bedroom can be determined through careful investigation.

On Wednesday morning, various insurance adjustors visited the Forensic Scientific Testing Center in Thorsby to watch live fire demonstrations to learn about ways to determine how a fire might have started.

“So many times we hear of a report from a fire starting in a kitchen where people will just say, ‘I just stepped away for a minute,’” said Steve Forren with Unified Investigations and Sciences. “Our job is to figure out why that fire might have started. Sometimes you will find that the cause of a fire was not what people originally thought was the cause.”

Forren and John Neil, Senior Fire Investigator in Birmingham with Unified Investigations and Sciences, said the purpose of the live fire demonstration was to show individuals different signs to look for when dealing with an electrical fire.

“Sometimes you will have a fire that starts because of a coffee maker or a toaster or a curling iron,” Neil said. “We can take that product and research what might have resulted in that product causing the fire, which is how some product recalls occur. There are products on the market that will have a history of catching on fire, and we take those products and analyze them and try to figure out what it is about the product that continues catching on fire.”

Three stations were set up in a field near the Forensic Scientific Testing Center as replicas of a kitchen, living room and bedroom and were set on fire to show those in attendance what to look for when investigating a fire.

Servepro from Birmingham built the three stations, and firefighters from Thorsby Fire Department used the event as fire training to put out the fires.

“We are going to have the living room station become fully involved, and the kitchen station we are going to show what happens when you leave something on the stove and it catches on fire,” Forren said. “The bedroom fire will be a replica of what happens when you have a space heater too close to the blanket on a bed.”

This was the first time for the live fire demonstration to be held in Alabama with the closest demonstrations typically held in Atlanta.

“We are really thankful for local fire departments who come because they can help put the fires out that we start today, and they can also do live fire training in a controlled environment,” Forren said.

Forensic Scientist Sharee Wells, who works at the Forensic Scientific Testing lab in Thorsby, said she does fire analysis work throughout the country.

The lab in Thorsby is an ISO accredited and independent forensic engineering laboratory specializing in fire debris analysis, electrical failure analysis, vehicular fluid analysis, vehicle analysis, mechanical analysis, and fire investigation support.

“We thought this would be a good location to have the demonstration here today,” Wells said.