Follow Up

• Confirmed arson
• Accidental
• Not arson

If the user specifies a particular file or location, skip the scan and go directly to Step 2 for that file.

Step 2 — Extract search terms from each open file

For each open file, read it and extract:

• The facility name (e.g., "Southwood Lumber Pallet", "Lister Ave chemical warehouse")
• The city and state
• The date of the fire
• The specific open question (e.g., cause undetermined, suspect not charged, arson not confirmed)

Build a targeted search query from these. Good queries look like:

• "Southwood Lumber Pallet" fire cause 2026
• "Lister Avenue" Newark warehouse fire cause arson 2026
• College Point Queens lumberyard fire cause determined 2026
• Mobile Alabama Kimberly-Clark fire investigation 2026

Step 3 — Search for updates in parallel

Use Agent subagents — one per open file — to search for updates simultaneously. Do not research them sequentially.

Each agent should:

1. Search news for updates using the query from Step 2
2. Look specifically for: fire marshal ruling, arson determination, arrest, charges filed, insurance investigation outcome, cause officially closed
3. Return: what was found (with URLs), whether the status has changed, and what the new status should be

If a search returns nothing new (no articles after the original research date), that is a valid result — note it as "No updates found as of [today's date]" and move on.

Step 4 — Update files where new information exists

For each file where new information was found:

1. Update the Status field in the frontmatter block at the top of the file. Change from Under investigation to the appropriate new value (Confirmed arson, Accidental, Not arson, etc.).

2. Add an ## Update section near the top of the file (after the frontmatter block, before ## The Fire). Use this format:

   ## Update — [Month Day, Year]
   
   [1–3 sentences describing what changed. Link to the source article.]
   

3. Add any new sources to the Sources section at the bottom of the file.

4. Do NOT rewrite the original file content. Preserve the original research. Only add, don't overwrite.

Step 5 — Update the INDEX

After updating individual files:

1. Update the Arson? column in the INDEX table for any file whose status changed.
2. Update the "At a Glance" counts if the confirmed/under-investigation/unconfirmed tallies changed.
3. Update the research date at the top of the INDEX to today's date.
4. If an incident moved from "Under investigation" to a resolved status, move it out of the open-items cluster in any summary sections.

What to report when done

After completing the follow-up pass, output a short summary:

## Follow-up Summary — [Date]

**Files checked:** N
**Updates found:** N
**No updates:** N

### Changed
- [filename] — was: Under investigation → now: [new status]. [One sentence on what changed.]

### No updates found
- [filename] — [facility name], [city]. Last researched [date].

Edge cases

• Unconfirmed files (no prior news coverage): Search broadly first (location + date + "fire"). If still nothing, note it and flag that the incident may have been a false social media report.
• Files with partial information (e.g., suspect arrested but not yet charged): Still check — charges may have been filed since the file was written.
• Kimberly-Clark Ontario (April 7): Confirmed arson but the criminal case is ongoing. Check for plea, trial date, or sentencing updates if the case is noted as "pleaded not guilty" — treat this as an open legal status worth checking.
• Do not hallucinate updates. If you cannot find a credible news source confirming a change, do not update the status. Write "No updates found" instead.