A recent event in Putnam valley, located in Putnam County New York, underscores the problem for the fire investigator. While one was being used in a kitchen. It was traced back to the crock pot. On inspection, the crock pots wire system had ignited some plastic on the appliance at a specific location. The plastic enclosures were igniting and sending tiny droplets to the area below as a result of its failure of its electrical system at a wire connection.
Several questions arise.
For the fire investigator, the most important one is whether the ignition source would have been found had the building been totally consumed. To the insurance industry and those responsible for safety issues, the question of statistical numbers are important. The manufacturers of these items would have us believe that the numbers of events is statistically insignificant. To both the fire investigator and the fire engineer the reality of the ignitable plastics surrounding appliances should be of major concern. In his reasoning, had the material surrounding the appliance been of a less combustible material, then the chance of ignition would be greatly reduced.