How to Become a Fire Investigator
Part detective, scientist, engineer, and law enforcer, the fire investigator represents the collusion of multiple careers rolled into one. It is the fire investigator who must explore, determine, and document the origin and cause of the fire, establish what human actions were responsible for it, then bring authoritative testimony to the courtroom to win a conviction in cases of arson. "This isn't a job for a lazy man," says Paul Horgan, accelerant detection canine handler and state trooper assigned to the Office of the Massachusetts State Fire Marshal. "You have to be conscientious and have a mind that likes to figure things out. You really can't take shortcuts. You must take your own photographs, collect the evidence, do follow up investigations. In instances of incendiary fires, you must find the criminal." Although many people use the terms "fire investigator" and "arson investigator" interchangeably, they are not one and...