One of the graduates of the most recent Anchorage Police Department academy was fire inspector Brian Dean, who went through the class to learn more about arson investigations.
He already had been lending a hand when the Anchorage Fire Department’s sole fire investigator, Brian Balega, is unavailable. The city has needed a second investigator since budget-cutters pared back the department in 2009, Balega said.
“I’ve pretty much been working by myself since then, and I think some may think that we’re adding a second investigator because there is a recent need for one, but the need has been there, just from the normal caseload,” he said. Dean has been handling inspections for the Anchorage Fire Department for five years. That former position still takes priority, and there are months of field training ahead before he can lead and finish investigations on his own. Balega said he believes the number of arsons has increased since he took the investigator position.
He estimated he had handled about 50 cases in 2015 with some carrying over from the previous year. About 30 of those cases were arson investigations, he said.
The numbers are overwhelming, Balega said.
“There are cases I just can’t work,” he said, “and those won’t be in the statistics, because they’re not being followed up on.”
Arson investigations can take years. A series of arsons at a local park recently wrapped up in Anchorage Superior Court through plea deals.