By Mark Pollard (President, Australasian Branch)

Steve Tully retired from the South Australia Police at the rank of Brevet Sergeant in the position of a Forensic Investigator and Vehicle Examiner in 2016 and began contracting to F.I.R.E.S. and Insurance agencies for Forensic Vehicle Examinations.

In June 2019, at the request of a local insurer, Steve Tully was appointed to examine a silver, 2007 Holden VE Berlina sedan that had been written off due to fire damage. It was reported that the owner had parked the vehicle in a private yard on Thursday afternoon prior to the fire. The insured stated she was going away overnight with her partner in his vehicle as it was bigger and could accommodate them and their young child. She stated she had left the vehicle locked and did not have any issues with the vehicle prior to this incident and that the vehicle was well maintained. At about 7.30 pm on the Friday night, she received a call from Police saying her vehicle was on fire.

As a result of the damage, the owner lodged a claim with her insurer, stating she was informed the fire was a result of an electrical issue inside the vehicle and due to the type of damage sustained to the vehicle, the vehicle was written off as non-repairable.

Steve Tully was contacted and appointed to examine the vehicle at the location where the incident took place. At the time of examination, the vehicle had been found behind a shipping container on a small unfenced business block of land in an industrial area of Mount Gambier (South Australia). The area was an industrial estate with several other companies.

The vehicle had sustained extensive fire damage to the entire passenger compartment which was totally consumed. Further examination established that the vehicle’s windows were fully down (open). Whilst the exterior of the vehicle had sustained fire related damage, the fire was only to the upper roof and top of the doors, and left front side. Both the bonnet and boot lid were in the closed position and did not show any signs of being forced open.

After Tully forced open the luggage compartment lid he noted the compartment had sustained some fire damage and that the main battery of the vehicle (which was located in the luggage compartment on these models) was still connected. For safety reasons, he disconnected the battery terminals. The plastic battery cover was melted over the top of the battery which was undamaged.

Tully then forced open the bonnet to examine the engine compartment. The engine compartment whilst burnt, the damage was relatively less compared to the interior of the vehicle. The fire damage consumed the left mounted air box and upper plastic and rubber components within the engine compartment. The right side of the engine which housed the electrical systems fuse/relay box was only slightly damaged with the fuse box lid melted over the housing. The fuse/relay box was complete under the melted top cover.

During Tully’s examination of the interior, a strong smell of an accelerant was detected. Samples were collected but did not reveal a source of the odor.

No personal items were located in the luggage compartment or within the burnt remains of the interior.

Tully then examined the engine and noted that with the little amount of fire-related damage, the engine would not rotate. Tully then sought permission from the insurer to investigate the engine issue further as the extent of fire damage to the engine compartment did not explain why it would not rotate.

After Tully received confirmation to proceed further with his examination he removed the cylinder heads. With the cylinder heads removed it was evident what the issue was. The timing chain had jumped a few teeth, causing the camshaft and crankshaft to be out of sequence, causing the valves to dig into the pistons. This caused the engine to seize. It would have been impossible for the insured to have driven the vehicle to its current location as stated as the engine would not turn over, let alone start.

Further investigation identified the insured had purchased a larger vehicle with her partner a few weeks prior to the fire as they had recently had a child. The damaged vehicle had been parked at the current location for weeks prior to the fire and had not just been driven there the night before.

As a result, the claim was denied and the insured is now a subject of insurance fraud investigation.

In recognition of Mr. Tully’s professionalism and thoroughness in the above investigation, he was selected as the winner of IAATI’s 2020 Insurance Investigator of the Year.

Congratulations, Mr. Tully! Well done!