Arson investigators convene in Wasilla

WASILLA — If you wanted to burn down a building and get away with it last week, you would have been well advised to commit your crime elsewhere.

For three days, members of the Alaska Association of Fire and Arson Investigators filled up a conference room at the downtown Wasilla fire station for their yearly conference.

“Arson is a valid concern for public safety and is a problem that we see often,” said Brian Balega, a fire investigator with the Anchorage Fire Department and also head of the association.

And, he said, given the downturn in the economy, it wouldn’t be out of the question for those kinds of crimes to increase.

“Thankfully, we haven’t seen a big rise in that as they have in other jurisdictions,” he said.

He said his roster of members stood at 79 at last count. Around 30 made it to the conference.

So what kind of things did the investigators learn? Sam Blittman with the state crime lab offered a succinct summary of his presentation right at the start. He promised to teach them “all the right things you should do so we don’t waste each other’s time.”

For instance — arriving on a scene and wondering if it’s arson, investigators should look for things that are out of place. Is there a bunch of chemicals under a child’s bed? Are there broken bottles? Wicks? Sawdust?

“Why were they cutting wood in the middle of the living room?” Blittman said.

He said criminologists can’t usually tell one brand of lighter fluid or paint thinner from another, but if investigators find a half-empty bottle nearby, they should grab a sample for comparison.

Also, if you’re cutting out a chunk of scorched carpet, make sure to grab a non-scorched piece, too, if you can. Having a clean sample makes it easier to sort out chemicals that should be there from those that shouldn’t.

“Carpet has a tremendous amount of chemicals in it,” he said.

Jack McKenna, an Anchorage assistant district attorney, said he and another person in his office are good resources for fire investigators looking for advice, but once it’s clear someone’s going to be charged with a crime, investigators should start working with their local prosecutors who will be handling the cases.

Asked if he’d ever seen a defense attorney try to use statements made in pre-trial conversation with a fire investigator in court, McKenna said he had.

“Be careful when you’re talking to a defense attorney. Assume it’s being recorded,” he said. “Our goal is to have a just outcome, so we want to be up front with everyone we’re talking to.”

Balega said the conference is a yearly event and travels around the association’s three regions. It’ll be in Southcentral one year, Southeast another and the Interior the next year.

He said investigators came to last week’s conference from all over the state and all kinds of agencies. The state’s Division of Forestry made a good showing this year, he said.

A quick survey of the room yielded at least three Valley fire departments — Palmer, West Lakes and Central Mat-Su — that were in attendance. Even the Wasilla Police Department sent someone.

And, Balega said, it’s not just state agencies. Insurance companies have investigators. Some were at the conference.

“The more we can spread it around the better it’ll be,” he said. “It was great to be able to have the Mat-Su host us.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.