A potential lack of qualifications along with the ignorance towards the crime’s significance may be the cause for numerous unreported arsons across Ontario.

With municipalities across the country sending local fire services to contain and extinguish fire outbreaks on a daily basis, some believe that underqualified fire servicemen are not able to, or simply do not, determine whether or not a fire was an arson.

“Arson is pretty much the most under-investigated crime in Canada,” says Sgt. David Christie of the Ottawa Police Service’s Arson Unit. “It’s mind-boggling. I’m sure there are at least ten fires a year in Ottawa, if not more than that, that have been incorrectly determined to be accidental.”

According to Statistics Canada, Ottawa has averaged the fourth-lowest annual arson rate – measured by incident per 100, 000 population – among Ontario municipalities between 2011 and 2015. However, Christie is adamant that although these statistics offer wishful thinking, they are skewed.

Instead, he suggests that most members of the fire service do not have the investigative and technical background necessary to properly conduct initial investigations. Without such a background, arson may not come to the attention of the arson unit.

“In some places, investigation is just a box the fire services have to tick off,” says Christie. “It’s not a priority so I think that really does impact a lot of statistics of what is an arson and what isn’t.”

Arson, which is the crime of intentionally setting fire to property, that goes unreported can result in one of three potential consequences. First, an arson deemed to be an accidental fire could leave an arsonist with malicious intent at large. Although some arsonists can be assumed to be non-physical threats to the public as their sole interest is in the insurance claim, there remains the potential of a roaming, public-threatening arsonist.

Another potential consequence of improper investigation is mistaking a homicide for an accidental fire-related death. In connection with the first consequence, livelihood could be jeopardized by not calling in an arson unit for proper investigation.

The third, yet likely not the last, consequence is a fraudulent insurance claim affecting the insurance premiums of the public. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, insurance companies that unknowingly face fraudulent claims raise insurance premiums in order to manage losses.

Mario Delorme, the manager of Ottawa’s Origin and Cause branch, notes that reported arsons allow insurance companies to get involved and prevent fraud.

“Insurance companies hire private sector engineers and fire investigators to find answers as to what happened,” says Delorme. “For example, if a recall from a device is shown to have caused the fire, the insurance industry can choose to proceed with subrogation in order to recover the money they had to pay out to replace what the people have lost.”

Whether it’s in the private sector or a municipality, both Christie and Delorme agree that higher demands of expertise across all fire services are a necessity.

“Fires are complex investigations that often require expertise from many different backgrounds and the process of elimination in a fire scene is crucial to support a hypothesis that can sustain rigid scrutiny if it has to go to court,” says Delorme.

Christie adds to Delorme’s thoughts by saying the curiosity and skepticism achieved in police training are rare in the fire service, but are necessary for investigation.

“The issue is having every fire service in Ontario trained and equipped to conduct thorough fire investigations,” says Christie. “That doesn’t always happen. It’s a matter of getting everyone on board.”