NFPA *Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations* (2014 edition)

[Tom puts up an NFPA slide.] This is out of the National Fire Protection Association, down here in Quincy, Massachusetts, not-for-profit — the 2014 edition of Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations. About every three years they publish a new one. It's a consensus document — anyone in the country could write to the committee and say, I think you should rewrite this paragraph. The booklet is about half an inch thick, and every fire investigator uses it. Chapter four is basic methodology — which is the scientific method. Figure 4.3 is the scientific method. Recognize the need — okay, there's a problem. Define the problem, then collect the data around that problem. These four steps are the scientific method. You collect the data, whatever the thing is.