Forensic Studies of Trace Evidence Altered by Fire

When investigating crimes involving fire, it is necessary to assess the event of a crime and the circumstances and to find the causes and spread of the fire, and the possible evidence supporting that the fire was used as a means of concealing a previously committed crime, i.e. murder, burglary, etc. Forensic studies of the objects damaged by the fire require the knowledge of theoretical aspects and the ability to detect and evaluate changed patterns in handprints, shoe prints, traces of break-in tools and documents, rifling impressions on bullets and shells that have been subjected to high temperatures. The paper outlines a list of objects of forensic examination that are relevant to disclosing and investigating crimes involving fire. During the course of the study the authors have reviewed the information available in forensic science literature and conducted their own experiment. The authors propose additional guidelines on techniques and methods for differentiating signs of thermal effects on traces and objects, evaluating the damage caused by heat and assessing the results for their effective use in identification and diagnostic procedures. The combination of the technologies used makes it possible to decipher the damaged language of traces