As I have stated before when it comes to fire science:

There is a lot that one can read at this blog about what is wrong with forensic science, but there are also great efforts to reform and make forensic science better and scientific. As I stated a long time ago when I started this blog, I was going to be critical of those disciplines and people that are not scientific, but I was also going to praise those who are. One of the best organizations that is doing the correct thing (putting science back into forensic science) is the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). In my opinion, NFPA is a model for forensic science reform.

As we discussed here in Fire Whisperers-the Story of Bad Arson Investigation, the world of fire investigation had been notoriously full of unscientific “fire whisperers,” those who had no real scientific training and simply opined as to origin and cause of a fire based upon subjective and purely wildly speculative means. Unfortunately there are many jurisdictions that still employ these non-scientific “fire whisperers.”

Just moments ago out for public review and comment is NFPA 921, Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations.

The public comment period will close on January 5, 2015.

I immediately, logged in and flipped to 19.6.5 (Appropriate Use) where in the last edition negative corpus methodology was abandoned and severely curtailed. Thankfully, it is still there. As my trial got canceled, I will be reading it today. I hope to have more information and impressions soon.