Proposing expert versions on the cause of a fire and their verification through expert studies

Proposing expert versions is the most important stage of expert work in the process of establishing the cause of a fire. As practice shows, in expert studies of the cause of a fire, individual facts and circumstances often admit different explanations. The role of versions is that thanks to them the expert reconstructs the initial stage of fire development, determines the right direction of his scientific and practical activities, which he needs to implement in order to draw reasonable and reliable conclusions about the cause of the fire. Purpose: to carry out a comprehensive study of the problems encountered in the process of proposing versions of the cause of the fire and evaluating the results by a fire-technical expert. Methods: the author applies analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, systematic, juxtaposition, comparison as well as specific scientific methods: formal-logical, legal modeling, comparative-legal, system-structural. Results: the conclusions are settled on the need to draw the expert’s attention to the identification of the technical circumstances that contributed to the formation and development of the fire, the examination of the location of the fire source, the state of the alleged source of ignition in order to confirm or refute specific versions of the cause of the fire.