Tiny shard of glass helped rule out Bathgate house fire was linked to ongoing gang violence

Firefighters have shared how a tiny shard of glass helped crews rule out a deliberate attack on a house in West Lothian.

A fragment of soot-covered glass was described as a “key piece of evidence” during an investigation into a house fire in Bathgate last year.

Threats towards the property, a smashed window, a shovel in the garden and a lighter nearby all pointed to a firebombing, according to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

The fire came during a series of incidents across the country linked to an ongoing gang war, with more than 50 arrests made by Police Scotland during Operation Portaledge.

Watch Commander Fraser Caddens is one of 18 specialist fire investigation officers covering the whole of Scotland. Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Watch Commander Fraser Caddens, one of 18 specialist fire investigation officers covering the whole of Scotland, said: “Everything about the scene was suggesting the fire was set deliberately.

“But when we looked closer, the physical evidence didn’t match the story.”

Inside the living room, crews focused on fragments of broken window glass scattered across the carpet.

Fraser explained: “If the windows had been smashed before the fire started, the glass would have landed on a clean surface.

“The fire that followed would burn around it, leaving the underside of the glass and the carpet beneath protected from damage.”

Instead, both the carpet and glass were coated in soot.

He continued: “That tells you the fire was already burning before the glass broke down.

“The heat caused the window to fail. It wasn’t intentionally smashed from outside.”

Further examinations traced the origin of the fire to an electrical fault in a strip adaptor in the area where the window was broken. The lighter and shovel outside were unrelated.

He said: “Our job is to establish the truth. Sometimes we help prosecute people. Other times we stop innocent people from being blamed.”

Fraser, who was also part of the fire investigation team mobilised to the scene of a fire on Union Street, Glasgow, last week, said: “The training is demanding. It involves specialist courses, practical and written exams, scene assessments and producing detailed reports that must withstand scrutiny from defence lawyers.

“You’re not guessing. You’re researching, you’re testing your theories and use the scientific method.”