F89 F89 Fire Investigation and Incident Reporting Questions and Answers 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A tenant reports smelling smoke in a stairwell two days after a fire was extinguished. What should the FLSD do?
- Dismiss the report as residual smoke odor
- Document the report and inspect the area immediately (Correct answer)
- Wait for the next scheduled fire inspection
- Refer the tenant to the building manager only
Correct answer: Document the report and inspect the area immediately
Post-incident reports of smoke must be documented and inspected promptly as they may indicate hidden smoldering or reignition.
Question 2: Which information is NOT typically required in a standard fire incident report for a high-rise building?
- Time of alarm activation
- Names of responding FDNY units
- Personal financial history of the building owner (Correct answer)
- Description of fire suppression actions taken
Correct answer: Personal financial history of the building owner
Personal financial history of the building owner is irrelevant to the operational facts documented in a fire incident report.
Question 3: When interviewing occupants after a fire incident, the FLSD should PRIMARILY focus on gathering what type of information?
- Legal liability admissions
- First-hand observations about smoke, flames, and evacuation timeline (Correct answer)
- Opinions on building management quality
- Estimates of property damage costs
Correct answer: First-hand observations about smoke, flames, and evacuation timeline
First-hand factual observations help reconstruct the timeline and sequence of events, which is the core purpose of post-incident interviews.
Question 4: What does the term 'incendiary fire' mean in the context of fire investigation?
- A fire that spreads rapidly due to building design
- A fire intentionally set by a person (Correct answer)
- A fire caused by faulty electrical wiring
- A fire ignited by natural causes such as lightning
Correct answer: A fire intentionally set by a person
An incendiary fire is one that was deliberately set by a person, which may constitute arson under criminal law.
Question 5: After a fire incident, the FLSD is reviewing the building's Fire Command Station logs. What is the PRIMARY value of these logs in the investigation?
- They identify which tenants were present that day
- They provide a chronological record of alarm signals and system activations (Correct answer)
- They list the replacement cost of damaged equipment
- They document tenant complaints filed in the past year
Correct answer: They provide a chronological record of alarm signals and system activations
Fire Command Station logs capture a timestamped sequence of alarm events and system responses, essential for reconstructing the incident timeline.
Question 6: If a fire investigation cannot definitively determine whether a fire was accidental or incendiary, the correct classification is:
- Accidental by default
- Incendiary until proven otherwise
- Undetermined (Correct answer)
- Natural cause
Correct answer: Undetermined
When evidence is insufficient to establish cause with reasonable certainty, the fire is classified as undetermined to maintain investigative integrity.
Question 7: A Fire and Life Safety Director notices that an incident log entry was made by a previous FLSD but contains an error. The correct course of action is to:
- Erase the original entry and rewrite it correctly
- Add a corrective notation with the date and the correcting party's name (Correct answer)
- Shred the incorrect log and start a new one
- Ignore the error since it is a past record
Correct answer: Add a corrective notation with the date and the correcting party's name
Official incident logs must never be altered; corrections are made by adding a dated notation referencing the error while leaving the original entry intact.
F89 F89 Fire Investigation and Incident Reporting Questions and Answers 5
A tenant reports smelling smoke in a stairwell two days after a fire was extinguished.
What should the FLSD do?