Forensic Engineering Investigations of Residential Clothes Dryer Fires

Abstract

Residential clothes dryers are common in the United States, and thousands of residential fires involving clothes dryers occur each year. Forensic engineers are called upon to conduct scientific analyses of the causative factors in these fires. Forensic engineering investigations of clothes dryer fires consider design, installation, use, and maintenance of clothes dryers as well as evaluate ignition sources, first fuel ignited, fire containment and fire spread. A forensic engineering methodology for investigation of clothes dryers will bepresented in this paper, drawing on experience from hundreds of residential clothes dryer fire investigations.