Orland Fire District hosts training for the International Association of Arson Investigators
The Orland Fire Protection District (OFPD), working in conjunction with the Illinois Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI), coordinated a two-day training seminar last week on the latest techniques to investigate vehicle fires.
The Fire District hosted 140 professionals from across the country and Canada. The students consisted of municipal and private investigators, Insurance Claims representatives, and mechanical and Electrical Engineers from General Motors, Navistar, and Chrysler Automotive. In hosting the course, Orland Fire Protection District was able to train 10 Fire and Arson Investigators free of charge.
These types of cooperative efforts bring professionals from around the country to the Orland Fire Protection District to help educate and train district area investigators, Orland Fire Protection District Fire Chief Ken Brucki said.
The training is led by professional instructors Detective Barry Grimm and by Capt. Chris Elrod, both from the Wilmington, North Carolina Fire Department.
Arson investigators with the Orland Fire Protection District and the IL-Chapter of the IAAI worked with the instructors to develop the 30 different vehicle fire scenarios where students worked to identify the origin and the cause of each vehicle fires during this advanced training class.
The Fire District took full advantage of having so many vehicles at the Orland Fire Protection District training site.
“Each vehicle was prepared by the instruction staff to duplicate various causes and different origins located in and around the vehicle. The vehicles were set on fire using different methods to simulate mechanical malfunctions as well as incendiary causes of fires. We then used the opportunity to train our suppression companies on the various techniques used to effectively fight a vehicle fire,” Brucki said.
“During this step, we took the time to educate and train claim representatives from State Farm Insurance, GEICO, and American Family Insurance. It was a perfect opportunity to have members from the insurance company witness firsthand the procedure for investigating a vehicle fire and help educate them to the process when completing a claim.”
The Orland Fire District working in conjunction with the Illinois Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators secured 30 salvaged vehicles from West and Sons Towing in Addison, IL.
The Fire District will continue to use these vehicles for the next month to complete several auto extrication drills during regular training sessions.
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