Bartlesville Fire Department personnel recently returned from the Oklahoma Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators’ annual conference, Training and Public Information Officer Bill Hollander said this week. The IAAI holds an annual three-day conference in various places around the state. This year, with Hollander in charge of the conference, it was held at the Hard Rock in Tulsa on Oct. 23-25.
“This conference helps us meet our CLEET obligations and introduces a variety of topics, learning opportunities and speakers relating to our profession,” Hollander said. “Some of the topics included this year were equipment/auto theft/ and how to identify stolen and burned vehicles, which was put on by the NICB (National Insurance Crime Bureau).”
Hollander said additional topics put on by other experts were to obtain information from vehicle infotainment consoles and vehicle computers, conducting forensic interviews, marijuana grow house fires and fire forensics and fatality investigations.
“The OKIAAI is a non-profit organization that sponsors the Children’s Oklahoma Burn Camp, and we heard a short presentation from a burn camp survivor,” Hollander said. “The conference was attended by approximately 120 individuals from across the state and we had expert speakers from as far away as Denver. I was also honored to be appointed president of this organization for the next year.”