VIDEO: ATF instructors turning up the heat in Saratoga on Thursday teaching arson investigators from across the state and Canada how to spot the start of an appliance fire.
“What something looks like before it’s burned and what it looks like after a fire has affected it is completely different,” explains ATF Special Agent and Certified Fire Investigator Mark Meeks.
Thursday’s training was organized by the International Association of Arson Investigators New York chapter. The group invited the ATF to teach more than 100 participants the ins and outs of a typical appliance like toasters, heaters, and hair dryers by taking them apart, then putting each tiny piece back where they found it.
“Understanding the electricity and the inner workings of a small appliance, and how failure modes can occur,” says IAAI Chapter Vice President Scott Shear.