Flame Front Radio with John McDermott

In the final episode for Season 1, John talks with Dan Heenan about OH&S investigations on a fire scene as well as his personal, first-hand experience in an event where he was injured while part of a active investigation.

Dan Heenan was appointed as an Assistant Fire Chief for the Clark County Fire Department on Jan 15, 2018, and has responsibility over the Fire Investigation Division.  A graduate of Rancho High School, Chief Heenan was hired as an ATF Special Agent in 1988 and served a 30 year career with that agency before retiring and hiring on with the Clark County Fire Department.  

Chief Heenan began his ATF career in San Francisco where he worked firearms, narcotics, explosives and arson investigations for nine years.  During this time, he was a member of the ATF Special Response Team for seven years, the last four of which were as the team sniper.  For the next twenty plus years, he has worked in the Las Vegas office where he was ATF’s Certified Fire Investigator for the State of Nevada.  He traveled throughout the United States and foreign countries assisting in the origin and cause determination of fires as well as teaching the fire investigation community regarding origin and cause investigations.  Chief Heenan was a member of the ATF National Response Team for eighteen years and was selected as the Team Leader for the NRT in 2013.  

Chief Heenan served as the President for the International Association of Arson Investigators in 2015; was on the Board of Directors for ten year; has served as Chairman of the IAAI Training and Education Committee for six years; and currently serves as the Chairman for the CFITrainer.net committee.  He currently is a member on the NFPA 1033 committee and is serving as the Acting Chair for the committee.  He is an IAAI-CFI and an IAAI- CI as well as a Member of the Forensic Science Society of London.  

Dan is a graduate of the University of Nevada where he obtained a degree in Criminal Justice.  He also has a Master’s Certificate in Fire Investigation from Oklahoma State University.  

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Hosted by John McDermott
Produced by John McDermott
Edited by Shawn "LSS" Smith

Ed Nordskog joins John again to discuss the many different aspects and considerations where wildland arsonists are concerned. 

Ed has been an analyst/profiler on several major recent arson and fire death cases.  Recently he was a retained Expert on the Ghost Ship warehouse mass-casualty fire (36 deaths).  He has provided expert analysis and profiling to attorneys and prosecutors on multiple cases including serial arsonists, female serial arsonists and arson murder investigations; body dump arsons, and suicides by fire.  He has been asked by several police agencies to examine numerous unsolved and Cold Case arson/murders. 

Master Certified Fire Investigator; Bomb Technician (retired)

Instructor/Author/Lecturer

Author:  “Torchered Minds-Case Histories of Notorious Serial Arsonists”

Author:  “Fireraisers, Freaks and Fiends-Obsessive Arsonists in the California Foothills”

Author: “The Arsonist Profiles”

Author:  “Incendiary Devices: Investigation and Analysis”

Author:  “Fire Death Scene Investigation”

Ed is in the process of finishing two additional books:  One is on Wildland Arson Investigations and the final book is on Profiling the Criminal Bomber

Work History: Recently retired as a full time Arson/Bomb Investigator with Los Angeles Sheriff’s, since 1997.  Investigated 2,100 arson cases and arrested/prosecuted 300 persons for arson related offenses.  Testified as an expert in fire/arson on over 95 cases.  Involved in over 60 fatal fire investigations and 46 serial arson investigations.   

Conducted “render safe” operations to over 540 suspected hazardous devices (bombs). 

Education:  Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice-Bemidji State University; Named “Outstanding Student in Criminal Justice”.  Dean’s List Graduate-1982.

Master of Science in Emergency Services Management- Cal State Long Beach-2007.

Military:  U.S. Marines, 1979-1990; Field Artillery, Terrorist Counter-Action, rank of Captain

Hosted by John MCDermott
Produced by John McDermott
Edited by Shawn "LSS" Smith

Ricardo Torres joins John from Mexico to talk a little bit about investigating large fire losses.  Lots of great information jam-packed into this one!

Ricardo D. Torres is the Chief Fire Investigator for Forensic Investigations Group Global (FIG Global), a forensic investigation company based in Monterrey Mexico. FIG Global is a multi-national firm established in Mexico as a result of the growing demands for forensic fire investigation services in Mexico and Latin America. Our goal is to provide the local and international insurance and reinsurance market with reliable, trusted and accredited fire investigation services. FIG Global is an expansion of the US based Forensic Investigations Group L.L.C. which is the first commercial fire investigation firm to obtain the ISO/IEC 17020 accreditation for Fire and Explosion Origin and Cause Investigations.
Mr. Torres has over 23 years of experience in the field of investigations for both the public and the private sectors. He started his career as a volunteer firefighter in Pharr, Texas eventually joining the Pharr Fire Department as a full-time firefighter. He later was appointed as a Deputy State Fire Marshal for the State of Texas. During his tenure as a Deputy State Fire Marshal, he investigated several hundred fire and explosion incidents. He was the arresting officer on over 100 criminal cases related to arson, insurance fraud and homicide. He was a founding member of the South Texas Fire Investigators Association and the South Texas Arson Response Team. He also organized and coordinated several fire investigation certification courses for the South Texas Fire Investigators Association. Mr. Torres has completed numerous courses related to fire and explosion investigations including the highly regarded Advanced Origin and Cause/Expert Testimony course sponsored by the Bureau for Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco Georgia.

He earned an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice from South Texas College and is an experienced lecturer on fire and explosion investigations and has provided instruction for fire investigators from the US and Latin American countries. Mr. Torres has been recognized as an expert witness and has provided testimony in state, federal and international courts.

He has been actively involved in the Hispano Americano Chapter of the IAAI, currently serving as the Liaison Officer for the countries represented in this Chapter. He has previously served on the Board of Directors for the IAAI actively promoting the advancement of the IAAI objectives in Latin America. He currently continues to serve the IAAI on the CFI committee and the Training Committee.

Hosted by John McDermott
Produced by John McDermott
Edited by Shawn "LSS" Smith

In this episode, Randy Watson discusses the importance and value of the NFPA 921: Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations with John.


Mr. Watson is the Director of Technical Training for S-E-A. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Carolina. Prior to joining SEA in 1992, he spent 15 years investigating fires and explosions for the fire service, law enforcement, and private sector. As the Director of Technical Training, he is responsible for the coordination of all training and mentoring of new engineers and investigators.  All new technical staff go through an extensive training and mentoring program prior to being released to conduct investigations and analysis of their own matters.  Mr. Watson began his affiliation with the National Fire Protection Association’s Technical Committee on Fire Investigation in 1991 and continues to serve as a principal member. From 2002 through 2007 he served as the Committee Secretary. Since January of 2008, Mr. Watson has served as the committee chairman. This is the committee responsible for writing “NFPA 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations”. Mr. Watson also serves on the NFPA Technical Committee on Fire Investigator Professional Qualifications. This committee is responsible for writing “NFPA 1033 Standard for Professional Qualifications for Fire Investigators”.  Mr. Watson also served on the NFPA Professional Qualifications Correlating Committee (Principle) and the NFPA Technical Committee for Fire Investigation Units (Chairman).

Mr. Watson hold various certifications for fire investigation, as well as fire investigation instruction. Throughout his career, Mr. Watson has qualified as an expert witness and provided testimony in numerous federal, state, and local jurisdictions. He is a licensed fire investigator in numerous states. He is a member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA); the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM International), serving on the E05 Committee-Fire Standards and the E30 Committee-Forensic Science; the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE); the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI)(Board of Directors 2014 – 2020); the National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI) (Board of Directors 2008 – 2019). 

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Hosted by John McDermott
Produced by John McDermott
Edited by Shawn "LSS" Smith

Assistant Chief Dan Heenan takes some time to talk with John about the need and importance of both initial training and continued education for the fire investigator.

Dan Heenan was appointed as an Assistant Fire Chief for the Clark County Fire Department on Jan 15, 2018, and has responsibility over the Fire Investigation Division.  A graduate of Rancho High School, Chief Heenan was hired as an ATF Special Agent in 1988 and served a 30 year career with that agency before retiring and hiring on with the Clark County Fire Department.  

Chief Heenan began his ATF career in San Francisco where he worked firearms, narcotics, explosives and arson investigations for nine years.  During this time, he was a member of the ATF Special Response Team for seven years, the last four of which were as the team sniper.  For the next twenty plus years, he has worked in the Las Vegas office where he was ATF’s Certified Fire Investigator for the State of Nevada.  He traveled throughout the United States and foreign countries assisting in the origin and cause determination of fires as well as teaching the fire investigation community regarding origin and cause investigations.  Chief Heenan was a member of the ATF National Response Team for eighteen years and was selected as the Team Leader for the NRT in 2013.  

Chief Heenan served as the President for the International Association of Arson Investigators in 2015; was on the Board of Directors for ten year; has served as Chairman of the IAAI Training and Education Committee for six years; and currently serves as the Chairman for the CFITrainer.net committee.  He currently is a member on the NFPA 1033 committee and is serving as the Acting Chair for the committee.  He is an IAAI-CFI and an IAAI- CI as well as a Member of the Forensic Science Society of London.  

Dan is a graduate of the University of Nevada where he obtained a degree in Criminal Justice.  He also has a Master’s Certificate in Fire Investigation from Oklahoma State University.  

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Hosted by John McDermott
Produced by John McDermott
Edited by Shawn "LSS" Smith

In this episode, John talks with Ed Nordskog on the topic of Arsonist Profiling.  You'll hear Ed speak about some of the many different aspects when looking at an arson fire including what to consider looking for, evidence, the value of confessions and sub-sets of arsonist profiles.

Criminal Profiler/Analyst-Arsonists and Bombers     www.arsonprofiler.com

Ed has been an analyst/profiler on several major recent arson and fire death cases.  Recently he was a retained Expert on the Ghost Ship warehouse mass-casualty fire (36 deaths).  He has provided expert analysis and profiling to attorneys and prosecutors on multiple cases including serial arsonists, female serial arsonists and arson murder investigations; body dump arsons, and suicides by fire.  He has been asked by several police agencies to examine numerous unsolved and Cold Case arson/murders. 

Master Certified Fire Investigator; Bomb Technician (retired)

Instructor/Author/Lecturer

Author:  “Torchered Minds-Case Histories of Notorious Serial Arsonists”

Author:  “Fireraisers, Freaks and Fiends - Obsessive Arsonists in the California Foothills”

Author: “The Arsonist Profiles”

Author:  “Incendiary Devices: Investigation and Analysis”

Author:  “Fire Death Scene Investigation”

Ed is in the process of finishing two additional books:  One is on Wildland Arson Investigations and the final book is on Profiling the Criminal Bomber

Work History: Recently retired as a full time Arson/Bomb Investigator with Los Angeles Sheriff’s, since 1997.  Investigated 2,100 arson cases and arrested/prosecuted 300 persons for arson related offenses.  Testified as an expert in fire/arson on over 95 cases.  Involved in over 60 fatal fire investigations and 46 serial arson investigations.   

Conducted “render safe” operations to over 540 suspected hazardous devices (bombs). 

Education:  Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice-Bemidji State University; Named “Outstanding Student in Criminal Justice”.  Dean’s List Graduate-1982.

Master of Science in Emergency Services Management- Cal State Long Beach-2007.

Military:  U.S. Marines, 1979-1990; Field Artillery, Terrorist Counter-Action, rank of Captain

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Hosted by John McDermott
Produced by John McDermott
Edited by Shawn "LSS" Smith

In this first episode, John discusses leadership on the fire investigation scene with special guest Robert Rullan. 

Robert Rullan is a Public Safety Officer / Fire Investigator with the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety (SDPS) in Sunnyvale, CA, where he is a member of the Sunnyvale DPS Hazardous Materials Unit and is an Aerial Apparatus Operator. He joined the department in 2001 after serving in the United States Marine Corps and Hawaii Army National Guard. Robert is a graduate of the University of Hawaii (BA, Political Science) and St. John’s University (MA, Government and Politics). He is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI), and a founding member of the Hispanic American Chapter of the IAAI. Robert holds various professional certifications. He is a fire investigations trainer and consultant and travels across the US and abroad teaching fire investigations and related subjects. Robert published an article in the April 2019 edition of the IAAI’s journal – Arson and Fire Investigator, where he discussed leadership in the fire scene. Robert lives in California with his wife and accelerant detection wanna-be K9, his beagle Lucas.

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Hosted by John McDermott
Produced by John McDermott
Edited by Shawn "LSS" Smith