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Published on: 4/5/2002
Last Visited: 4/6/2002
Mike Quick, team leader of the ATF agents, said the group's work is to put together the "parts of the puzzle" that are left at a fire scene.What the team brings to an investigation, he said, are resources and manpower that most local department's don't have.Billings investigators were especially well prepared for their first experience with the national team, Quick said.When the ATF team arrived Tuesday, he said, the local investigators already had compiled information including interviews, videos and photos taken before the fire.
"We're never concerned about the ability or skill level of departments we work with," Quick said."Billings Fire Department has done an excellent job on this."
The agents don't let their areas of specialization overrun local knowledge, Quick said.Local investigators remain "intimately involved" in the investigation from the time the federal team arrives, he said.Among the reasons local involvement is so important is that every part of the country is different, including varying styles of building construction.
"We learn from them and they learn from us," Quick said.
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Quick said the Billings scene did not differ from many the team has investigated and they applied just about every skill and technique normally available to them to determine the fire's cause.The team flew an electrical engineer into Billings on Thursday, Quick said.The engineer is from Minneapolis and contracts with the ATF, he said.
The ATF team takes a dual approach to the fire investigation, with part of the team conducting interviews and the other part doing scene investigation.At the end of the day the two groups come together and share information.They also rotate positions to keep their skills sharp, he said.Working as a team, the agents "reduce a large fire to a very small area we have to work in," Quick said.
One of the tools the ATF brings to fire investigation scenes is a self-contained truck that carries nearly everything the agents need for an investigation - from small whisk brooms to a huge generator and 350 feet of cable to take electricity on to the scene.The truck in Billings this week left Denver on Monday but was delayed by mechanical trouble near Casper, Wyo., and didn't arrive until Wednesday.It is one of 32 available across the United States and several more are being built, Quick said.
No piece of equipment is returned to the truck dirty, Quick said, so that agents never have to worry about cross-contamination.For example, if team members are sampling gasoline from one fire scene there is no risk of introducing gas on a dirty shovel or glove.That's also a reason the truck's equipment runs on electricity.
The truck includes everything from hydraulic equipment for cutting apart metal to digital phone and fax machines to a drop-down table for interviews and video cameras and players.
"We can pull up, pull it out and we're ready to go," Quick said.
The ATF team members have gone to fire scenes that were "30 miles from the nearest motel" to metropolitan sites, Quick said.His team was the first of three dispatched to fire scenes around the country on Tuesday.The team members seldom know when they will be sent out and are not guaranteed when they will return home.Between traveling for investigations and going through the extensive training the ATF provides for the investigators, they know all about living out of a suitcase, he said.
"These people know what 'travel' means," Quick said.
But the agents volunteer for the team because they like their work, he added, even though it means being away from home, and leaving the work that is waiting for them at their regular ATF jobs.
"Number one, you enjoy what you do," Quick said."It's very rewarding to come in and do these things.You're providing something not everyone could do."
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