In sudden or unexpected deaths, there is a need to identify whether or not the death resulted from a criminal act. Adding evidentiary problems associated with fire and arson to this further complicates the investigation. A multi-agency approach with an open exchange of information is recommended, though the use of unrestrictive contextual information is problematic. Extraneous contextual information may introduce bias into the investigative process, risking flawed decision-making, and fatal fires may be particularly vulnerable to this. The authors examine the effect of cognitive bias on fire investigation and argue that, in fatal fire investigations, the sharing of contextual information should involve the use of strict information management strategies to ensure that forensic experts only receive task-relevant contextual information.

在突然或意外死亡中，有必要确定死亡是否是犯罪行为造成的。加上与火灾和纵火有关的证据问题，进一步使调查复杂化。尽管使用无限制的上下文信息存在问题，但还是建议采用开放式信息交换的多机构方法。无关的上下文信息可能会给调查过程带来偏见，存在决策错误的风险，致命的火灾可能尤其容易受到影响。作者研究了认知偏见对火灾调查的影响，并认为在致命火灾调查中，上下文信息的共享应包括使用严格的信息管理策略，以确保法医专家仅接收与任务相关的上下文信息。