Bodies associated with fires.

Introduction For the pathologist providing a routine necropsy service to the local coroner, examination of bodies associated with fires can generate difficult interpretational problems. Appropriate historical and circumstantial evidence may be vital to overall conclusions,' although, as with bodies recovered from water,2 such collateral information should always be available before any coroner's necropsy is undertaken.3 Not all bodies recovered after a fire will have died from its effects, although they may show features indicative of having been in it. Such bodies, therefore, require particularly careful examination, both external and internal , to catalogue (and subsequently to explain satisfactorily) all injuries present; to determine whether death indeed followed the effects of the fire; and to see whether any natural disease (such as ischaemic heart, cere-brovascular disease, and hypertension) may have contributed to, precipitated, or even caused death. It is also important to determine whether the deceased was under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at the time of death. Finally, the pathologist has a vital role in determining, from all pathological and cir-cumstantial evidence available, whether the overall findings are consistent with, or even point directly towards, accident, suicide, or homicide. Unfortunately, some bodies recovered after fires are extensively burned and therefore difficult to examine; nevertheless, careful examination should elicit sufficient findings to allow reasonable conclusions to be drawn. For the pathologist to interpret accurately the necropsy findings, it is necessary briefly to consider and to appreciate the classification, appearances, and prognosis of burns, the possible causes of death for burned bodies, and the spectrum of post mortem and artefactual injuries. Classification and appearances Burns represent local tissue destruction by dry heat on or near the skin. Causative agents include not only naked flames, but also such hot substances as metal-electric fire elements for example-glass, or even, under adverse circumstances, electric blankets and hot water bottles.