JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Fire and Emergency Services are co-hosting arson training for Alaska fire investigators April 25-29 as part of the International Association of Arson Investigators Alaska Chapter conference.
ATF personnel from the Seattle Field Division and the Huntsville, Ala.-based National Center for Explosives Training and Research (NCETR) will be facilitating the course. ATF is the primary federal agency responsible for administering and enforcing the criminal and regulatory provisions of the federal laws pertaining to arson.
ATF NCETR consolidates all the agency’s key explosives, fire, canine, and response operations. It consists of the Explosives Enforcement and Training Division; Explosives Research and Development Division; and the Fire Investigation and Arson Enforcement Division, all located at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.
Coursework will include both classroom-based and hands-on fire investigation instruction, law enforcement investigative best practices, complex investigation scene management, and an explanation of what ATF resources are available to support local fire investigators/fire marshals and law enforcement agencies.
ATF and JBER personnel will also be conducting training fires in which the students will then “investigate” to determine the origin and cause on Tuesday afternoon, April 26, at 3:30 p.m. Media interested in covering this event should contact JBER Public Affairs before 1 p.m. April 26 by calling 907-552-8160 or email jber.pa.mediaops@us.af.mil.
ATF and the U.S. military have a long history of working together to further the protection and defense of the United States. The U.S. Army and ATF annually put on an international training event known a Raven’s Challenge, which helps participating countries and agencies prepare and counter the threat of improvised explosive devices. More than 2,500 military and civilian personnel took part in 2021’s Raven’s Challenge.
The ATF Seattle Field Division is the largest of ATF’s 25 field divisions, by area, covering five states, including Alaska, and three U.S. Pacific territories in the western Pacific Ocean. ATF operates an office with special agents and industry operations investigators in Anchorage.
Editors’ Note: Anchorage media are invited to attend the hands-on fire investigation portion of the training at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Tuesday, April 26, at 3:30 p.m. Pre-registration will be required and media organizations will be escorted while on the base.
Media interested in covering this event should contact JBER Public Affairs before 1 p.m. April 26 by calling 907-552-8160 or email jber.pa.mediaops@us.af.mil.
ATF will provide subject matter experts for on-camera interviews. We will also work to identify students willing to be interviewed.
More information on ATF’s arson mission and certified fire investigator program is available at https://www.atf.gov/arson.