SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The San Bernardino County Sheriff says his deputies did not intentionally burn down the cabin that Christopher Dorner was barricaded in. He says pyrotechnic tear gas that was shot into the cabin was the cause of the fire.
All tear gas is made up of either pepper spray or a man-made chemical. What type of canister is used and how it's deployed changes with each situation.
"It catches fire and there would be flame and smoke shooting out of these ports on top," says Detective Jason Zickuhr as he shows off a flammable tear gas canister.
Zickuhr goes through the arsenal of tear gas canisters used in SWAT team operations. This particular canister would be put in what is called a burn safe before being thrown into a house, which keeps the flames from catching anything on fire.
"We don't want to cause fires, we don't want to cause exposure to neighbors, innocent people," says Zickuhr.
But not all canisters have exposed flames.
"It has the same type of fuse in here which when exploded, the sides of the can open up and powder is thrown throughout the room," says Zickuhr, referring to another type of canister.
Not all canisters are the same size and shape either. A small, bullet-sized canister would be used to get someone out of a car or a bathroom. A larger can would be used for someone in a big room.
Former FBI detective Dan Payne says authorities try to be selective in their use of tear gas and only use it in dangerous situations with armed suspects.
"You don't want to insert SWAT or officers into the structure because of the danger so you hopefully try to disorient or disable through the application of gas," says Payne.
Zickuhr says the variety of canisters can prevent a fire from happening in the first place.
"If I don't know what might happen, I'd probably use a different deployment method," says Zickuhr.
