AZ Family
MESA, Ariz. — When Mesa police noticed during an investigation of serial arsonists that 27 suspicious fires had not been probed, they knew the city had a dangerous hole in public safety.
That hole, created by budgetary reductions in arson investigators working for the Mesa Fire and Medical Department, is getting plugged as the result of unprecedented teamwork between police and firefighters.
Firefighters will still be first on scene at fires. A team of fire captains, backed by the city’s lone certified fire investigator, will determine fires’ causes and origins. When a fire is found to be suspicious, a group of police detectives trained as certified fire investigators will respond immediately to collect evidence and complete investigations.
Full story: Teamwork shores up investigative efforts by police, firefighters