In jargon, the "C amp;O" – the cause and origin – of the fire.

The C amp;O is important for an insurance company because there are accidents and there are accidents. If the insured negligently caused the accident then the insurance company is on the hook for the whole bill. But if it's a faulty electric blanket, or a bad switch, or if some appliance malfunctions and sets off a spark, then the company has a shot at something called subrogation, which basically means that the insurance company pays the policyholder and then sues the manufacturer of the faulty item.

So Jack has to dick around in there, but he thinks of it as dicking around with a purpose.

He pops open the trunk of his car.

What he's got in there is a folding ladder, a couple of different flashlights, a shovel, a heavy-duty Stanley tape measure, two 35-mm Minoltas, a Sony Hi8 camcorder, a small clip-on Dictaphone, a notebook, three floodlights, three folding metal stands for the lights, and a fire kit.

The fire kit consists of yellow rubber gloves, a yellow hardhat, and a pair of white paper overalls that slip over your feet like kids' pajamas.

The trunk is like full.

Jack keeps all this stuff in his trunk because Jack is basically a Dalmatian – when a fire happens he's there.

Jack slips into the overalls and feels like some sort of geek from a cheap sci-fi movie, but it's worth it. The first fire you inspect you don't do it, and the soot ruins your clothes or at least totally messes up your laundry schedule.

So he puts on the overalls.

Likewise the hardhat, which he doesn't really need, but Goddamn Billy will fine you a hundred bucks if he comes to a loss site and catches you without the hat. ("I don't want any goddamn workmen's comp claims," he says.) Jack clips the Dictaphone inside his shirt – if you clip it outside and get it full of soot, you buy a new Dictaphone – slings the cameras over his shoulder and heads for the house.