Published: 19.08.24
Did the gas grill, the outdoor fireplace, the patio heater or something else cause the summer house to burn down? Join fire investigator Henrik Sværke, who makes a living solving such mysteries, on his daily routine.
A charred rafter dangles from the roof ridge. The remains of a nightstand are scattered on a mattress, and a naked metal skeleton with rusty springs reveals that a cozy armchair once stood in the corner. The only things that still resemble themselves after the devastating fire are the wood-burning stove and the metal chimney pipe leaning against a beam.
When DBI’s fire investigator Henrik Sværke arrives at the summer house, it has been a week since the fire raged. He greets the representative from the insurance company, who has requested DBI to examine the site to possibly find the cause of the fire.
After donning protective gear, helmet, tool belt, and a breathing mask, Henrik Sværke cautiously approaches the burned-out summer house. He takes a few overview photos and steps over the red and white warning tape.
It’s hard to imagine how Henrik Sværke, in the pile of charred boards, roof tiles, and mineral wool remnants, will be able to find the answer to what caused the fire and where it started. At first glance, everything looks chaotic and random, but to the trained eye of a fire investigator, there are always details that stand out.
For example, on his way to the house, Henrik Sværke notices that a section of the terrace’s edge board has completely burned away, while the rest of the edge sticks up from the grass like a row of charcoal.
- That’s definitely something we need to examine closer. There must be a reason why the board is completely gone here, while there’s so much left right next to it, he says.
The owner of the house explained that the fire was discovered around three in the morning on the terrace, where the evening before they had used the gas grill, lit the cast-iron outdoor fireplace, and used the electric patio heater. The couple managed to get out safely and alerted the fire department, but they were unable to save the house and its entire contents.
Henrik Sværke squats down and pulls out a trowel from his tool belt. It is good for digging when looking for plugs, wires, and other clues at the fire site. While digging, he takes a look at the walls to see how the electrical installations must have been routed through the house.
- There must have been an outlet over here, says Henrik Sværke as he decisively plunges his gloved hands into the fire’s remains to find out where the patio heater was plugged in. He quickly finds the metal parts of a Schuko plug and then the copper wire from a cable. Nothing looks suspicious.
He then squats in the entryway, where the summer house’s electrical panel was located. Methodically, he digs out all the fuse plugs to check whether the fuses have blown or not.
Henrik Sværke originally trained as an electrician and electrical installer, but for the past 12 years, he has worked as a fire investigator at DBI. He explains that his background is, of course, useful when investigating whether electrical installations could be the cause of the fire. But most of what he uses on the job is something he has learned from his colleagues and at international courses for fire investigators.
- There are 16 of us in the department, and we make a big effort to share our knowledge with each other. I often consult with colleagues when I’m in doubt about something, and all the conclusions in the reports we send to customers are also peer reviewed by a colleague, he says.
However, it’s far from always that a fire investigation ends with a conclusion set in stone. Which is why Henrik Sværke and his colleagues often use standard phrases like ‘in all likelihood’,‘probably’, and in insurance cases, often what is the ‘most likely cause’ of the fire.
Back in the summer house, there’s little doubt left for Henrik Sværke. His initial curiosity about the burned edge board on the terrace has turned out to be the crucial clue to solving the mystery of why the summer house burned down. After checking how things look under the part of the terrace that wasn’t consumed by the flames, he’s certain of his conclusion:
- The cast-iron outdoor fireplace was placed right by the burned section. The wind direction was directly from the edge of the terrace towards the house. The owner explained that he was careful to extinguish the fireplace when they left the terrace, but my conclusion is that a spark during the evening jumped out of the fireplace and fell between the terrace boards. It probably smoldered there—perhaps for hours—until it ignited some dry leaves, which then set the terrace on fire, he explains.
