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LHS students get a close view of the fire investigation – Lagrange Daily News

LHS students get a close view of the fire investigation – Lagrange Daily News

LHS students get a close view of the fire investigation

Published 9:15 I have Saturday, March 15, 2025

The future detectives from Lagrange High have achieved a taste of real fire investigations due to the Lagrange fire department.

On Friday, the forensic class of Lagrange High made a field trip to the Lagrange’s Lagrange Department of Fire Department on West Lukken Industrial Drive for a close look at fire investigations.

LFD Lt. Lance Horne led the forensic class of Stacie Bulloch through an effective burnt room used to teach and train firefighters.

The students were shown the steps that investigators to identify the cause of a fire and what is done when the fire is considered to be incendiary or set intentionally. Horne explained that LFD only determines the cause of the fire, not if it is the fire. The police department makes this decision, he said.

Fire fires are more likely not to be incendiary fire, but not all fires are fires.

LFD often continues to work with the police after the fire is determined to be a fire, because LPD does not have an investigator who is specialized in fire offenses, Horne said. Sometimes he has to resort to the Marshal of State Firefighters for higher incidents, such as the recent double crime fire.

When people commit bad crimes like crime, they will sometimes try to cover it by burning the crime and evidence, Horne said.

“It is usually a bad idea here in Lagrange, because we have such fast response times,” Horne said.

Horne said that the state -of -fire marshal can be a useful resource, like the insurance company investigators, noting that they have much more money to spend for the investigation than the city.

“This is a valuable resource we have if something happens and I can’t prove it. I can contact the insurance company and say, “Can you send me one of your private investigators?” Horne said, saying they never want to pay any request they should not.

Horne said that when fires occur during storms, it may be difficult to establish the cause if it is electrical. Most of the fires call for the city to be answered are accidental, such as kitchen fires.

The LHS senior, Brookelynn Barlow, said he was enjoying the class because she is interested in the true crime.

“I did the digital imprint. I did research on how the history of forensics arrived, “Barlow said. “We have a lot of projects. We make a podcast, a true podcast of crime, which is very fine because I adore the real crime. We choose a case and then go over it. It’s very fun. “

For students from Lagrange High, the forensics class offers them credit for the fourth science class or they can take it as an elective. LHS has offered the class for more than a decade, but this is Bulloch’s first year.