When fighting fire, what should you do to preserve evidence?

• A. Minimize fire suppression and overhaul activities that could destroy important evidence regarding the origin of the fire
• B. Increase suppression activities to control the fire quickly
• C. Ventilate aggressively without regard to evidence
• D. Overhaul first and then fight the fire

Answer: (A)

Preserving evidence at a fire scene means protecting any signs that indicate where the fire started and how it spread. The best approach is to limit actions during suppression and overhaul that could destroy those clues. In practice, you focus on keeping the origin area as intact as possible, avoiding unnecessary movement of debris or structure materials, and not performing aggressive changes that could erase or contaminate evidence. Coordinate with investigators so they can examine the scene and collect traces before you disturb it any further. Document the scene with photos or notes before making changes, and only perform work needed for safety and extinguishment while preserving potential evidence.

Other approaches risk compromising the investigation: rushing suppression or overhaul can move or hide valuable clues; aggressive ventilation can disperse or remove trace evidence; and doing overhaul before properly addressing the fire can destroy or contaminate the origin area.