Fire Fatality Investigations 5.11.26 TX

Hays County Fire Marshal Office Hosts Fire Fatality Investigations
Monday, May 11, 2026
Hays County Fire Marshal Office
810 S. Stagecoach Trail
San Marcos, TX 78666
Check in 7am - 8am
Class begins at 8am
Registration closes at 5pm Eastern, Sunday, May 8, 2026.

Dr. Elayne Pope, Ph. D is a Forensic Anthropologist who researches how the human body burns with applications to fatal fire casework. She received her doctorate from the University of Arkansas in 2007 for “The Effects of Fire on Human Remains.” Dr. Pope has been a researcher and instructor for the San Luis Obispo Fire Investigation Strike Team (SLO FIST) Fatal Fire Death Investigation Course since 2008 where human cadavers are utilized to recreate fatal fire scenes using structures, vehicles, and outdoor fire environments. Dr. Pope specializes in the analysis of traumatic injury and its implications for fatal fire investigations along with examining burn patterns of individual casework. Her training courses examine how the human body is an important type of physical evidence from fatal fire scenes and the value of evidence preservation for fatal fire casework.

Fatal Fire Investigation Training Course Topics:

•Introduction to normal burn patterns and heat related changes of the body during a fire.

•Normal heat-related changes for the arms, legs, torso, and head (natural stages of burning to full cremation) and their appearance/condition after the fire.

•Heat-related changes of preexisting traumatic injury from gunshot wounds, blunt force trauma, and sharp force trauma in burned human remains.

•Experimental case examples of vehicle fires, structure fires, outdoor fires, the use of ignitable liquids, and criminal attempts to destroy physical evidence of the body.

•Effects of suppression, post-fire changes to the body, and problems with improper handling of fragile burned human remains/evidence from the scene.

•Fatal fire scene documentation, evidence handling, the autopsy, and methods of victim identification from bodies that were ‘burned beyond recognition’.

Fees:

IAAI Member Price $335.00

Non-IAAI Member Price $500.00

Credit / Debit Card payments only, if you must use a check or use other means:

Please contact: IAAI-Training@firearson.com

All IAAI courses are subject to cancellation or postponement at any time due to unforeseen circumstances. Registered participants will be notified as soon as possible.

Any questions? IAAI-Training@firearson.com

Cancellation fees:

31 days from start of class, full refund. After 30 days, no refunds.