GILBERT, Ariz. — The National Response Team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) along with ATF special agents from the Phoenix Field Division have entered the investigation of a large commercial fire at the request of the Gilbert Fire Department. The March 28 blaze occurred at an industrial complex of some eight businesses in this community 20 miles southeast of Phoenix.
ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge Marvin Richardson and National Response Team (NRT) Team Leader Brian Hoback said that the approximately 23,734-square-foot structure, located at 725 W. Commerce Ave. in Gilbert, sustained serious damage estimated to be in excess of $1.5 million.
ATF's NRT has brought definitive expertise and an array of state-of-the-art equipment to the investigation of major fire and explosives incidents since 1978. Four regional components, organized geographically to cover the United States, comprise the NRT. The team can respond within 24 hours to assist state and local law enforcement or fire service personnel in onsite investigations.
The responding NRT component normally has 13-18 members, including veteran special agents who have post-blast and fire origin-and-cause expertise; forensic chemists; explosives enforcement officers; fire protection engineers; accelerant detection canines; explosives detection canines; and intelligence, computer forensic and audit support. A fleet of fully equipped response vehicles strategically located throughout the United States provides logistical support.
ATF's partnership with federal, state and local officers is vital to the most effective processing efforts at an explosives or fire scene. The NRT capitalizes on that by working alongside its partners in reconstructing the scene, identifying the seat of the blast or the origin of the fire, conducting interviews and sifting through debris to obtain evidence related to the explosion or fire.
In addition to investigating hundreds of large fire and explosives scenes, the NRT trucks were deployed for the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, the Olympics and other major sporting events in the United States, presidential inaugurations and the national political conventions, and major international conferences.
This is the 13th NRT activation in fiscal 2006 and the 614th since the program began in 1978. Other agencies involved in the investigation are Gilbert Fire and Police Department and the Maricopa County Arson Task Force.
