Fire and Explosion Investigation

Our team has vast experience investigating:

• Auxiliary and cargo equipment
• Electrical issues
• Collision fuel fires
• Spontaneous ignition cases
• Faulty wiring
• Gas leaks
• Battery explosions
• Wildland fires
• Accidents
• Arson
• Chemical or mechanical explosions
• Process plant fires
• Appliance fire

Our qualified team is ready to take your case, no matter how complex it may be. We have extensive experience and education in the following areas:

• Engineering
• Fire science
• Chemistry
• Fire origin and cause

Our team can provide clear communication, coupled with quick responses and concise conduct. You shouldn’t have to be knowledgeable in the field or technical to keep track of the progress. Finally, our associated services can help with loss evaluation to meet your priority needs.

Appliances

Electrical appliances are one of the single most common causes of accidental household fires. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, appliances cause upwards of 150,000 fires a year.

Any number of household appliances can cause a fire. Cheap, faulty units like toasters and ranges can ignite due to poor design or quality and arc flashes can cause fires in dryers, washers and furnaces.

For insurance purposes, it’s crucial to understand the cause of an appliance fire. At Leonard C. Quick & Associates, Inc. we employ experienced, certified electrical engineers and fire examiners who can help apportion liability, analyze the origin of fires and determine appropriate legal action.

Arson

Intentional structural fires are often hard to detect, especially because of firefighting practices used to prevent fires from spreading. But unfortunately, arson is very common. It’s estimated that arson is the leading cause of fires in the U.S. with over 267,000 annual fires caused intentionally.

Leonard C. Quick & Associates, Inc. has a large team of certified fire investigators. By examining scorch patterns, spreading, origin, accelerants and the condition of the burned area, our expert team can determine whether or not a fire was a result of arson.

You can trust us to detect arson and prevent insurance fraud. Our expert engineers can provide service throughout an entire investigation, from the initial burn site to the courtroom.

Electrical Fires

According to FEMA, around 25,000 electrical fires occur in residential buildings each year. They’re also among the five leading causes of fires in commercial buildings. Altogether, almost half of all fires are caused by some form of electrical malfunction.

These failures can come from faulty wiring, appliances, electrical distribution malfunctions, lightning and more. Identifying the contributing factors in an electrical fire can be difficult, so turn to the experts at Leonard C. Quick & Associates, Inc.! Our electrical engineers and fire investigators can help identify the cause of an electrical fire, making it easy to identify liability, rule out arson and aid insurance adjusters.

Construction Defect

In a multimillion dollar construction project, a single defect can lead to serious damages or even the loss of the entire project. If these construction defects occur, it’s essential to determine the root cause, identify the responsible party and take appropriate action to reduce your losses.

Leonard C. Quick & Associates, Inc. can help find structural design flaws, analyze structural failure, determine contributing poor construction techniques and ensure that the proper materials were used during construction.

From residential buildings to multimillion dollar industrial projects, we’ve seen and done it all. Our expert engineers can help you determine liability and seek appropriate restitution after a construction defect.

Fire Investigation

Arson is the leading cause of all structural fires in the United States and electrical fires are responsible for more than half of all accidental fires. It can be hard to identify the root cause of a residential or commercial fire.

So, don’t do it alone. Whether you’re an attorney, government employee or insurance professional, Leonard C. Quick & Associates, Inc. can help.

Our team of certified fire investigators can determine the origin of fires and reveal suspicious circumstances that could point to arson. With experience both in investigating fires and delivering expert testimony to judges and juries, our fire investigators are a valuable resource for you and your clients.

Process Plants

Failure of critical systems in process plants can lead to lost production time, lower revenues and serious disruptions in production. From food service and pharmaceutical industries to industrial sectors like chemical and metal production, the failure of common process plant systems can be catastrophic.

At Leonard C. Quick & Associates, Inc. our investigators can identify typical failure points in your process machinery, like boilers, broken pumps, corroded piping, valve failure or faulty manufacturing equipment.

By collecting data, interviewing employees and examining service and maintenance records, we can identify the cause of system failure, help you understand what happened and recommend the right steps to avoid future system failure.

Spontaneous Ignition

Spontaneous ignition isn’t a myth. While there’s no such thing as a fire that happens for no reason, there are a variety of things that can make a fire seem “spontaneous” and cause a sudden, intense, conflagration—even without a clear ignition source.

This is common during organic and chemical reactions. For example, wet hay can be a serious risk due to its stimulation of microbial growth. As microbes grow and dry out the surrounding hay, further growth occurs. When the hay bale reaches about 150 degrees Fahrenheit, exothermic bacteria can increase temperatures to the point of spontaneous combustion.

Leonard C. Quick & Associates, Inc. specializes in investigating cases of spontaneous ignition. We can identify the cause of previous incidents and we’ll recommend the safety precautions and appropriate practices to help you avoid similar incidents in the future.

Wildfire Investigations

Wildfires cause billions in property damage each year, and they can occur due to a wide variety of circumstances. At Quick & Associates, our wildfire investigators can help analyze wildfires all throughout the U.S. and determine the cause—whether natural or man-made.

Our engineers are experts at performing fuel content analysis, fire shape analysis, topographic reviews, and fire pattern identification, so we can help you understand the root cause of a fire.

Using tools and techniques like aerial photographs and videography and ground-level pattern analysis, we can identify the location where a fire started. We also use advanced computer fire modeling programs to construct a comprehensive model of the fire and its spread.

Contact us today to learn more about hiring our team of specialist wildfire investigators. With our expertise and advanced methodology, we can help you investigate, understand, and prevent wildfires.