Vermont Statutes Title 20. Internal Security and Public Safety, § 2831. Investigations

(a) The Fire Marshal and the Fire Marshal's assistants are authorized to investigate the cause, origin, and circumstances of every fire within the State that causes injury to any person or that causes damage or loss of property in excess of $200.00. The Fire Marshal and the Fire Marshal's assistants shall make a special investigation of any fire of suspicious origin. In any investigation carried out by the Fire Marshal, the Fire Marshal shall cooperate with the local fire department.

(b) The chief of a volunteer or paid fire department or the chief's designee and, in towns lacking a fire department, the selectboard chair shall investigate the cause, origin, and circumstances of every fire occurring in the jurisdiction that causes injury to any person or that causes damage or loss of property in excess of $200.00. The chief or the selectboard chair may make a special investigation as to whether a fire was the result of carelessness or accident and shall make a special investigation of any fire of suspicious origin.