Welcome to this edition of the IAAI’s CFITrainer.Net podcast. Today we welcome IAAI’s new Executive Director, Scott Stephens to talk about the future of the International Association Arson Investigators. Mr. Stephens comes to IAAI with a background in public relations, most recently as Executive Vice President of Bendure Communications. Scott, thanks for taking a few minutes to join us today on the podcast.

SCOTT STEPHENS: Thank you for having me, Rod.

ROD AMMON: The first thing I wanted to say is I think we started talking about this podcast you were a little bit newer than you are now, and you’ve been doing a lot of traveling. I know I’ve seen you in different places representing fire investigation and the members. So already we have reason to be grateful.

SCOTT STEPHENS: Getting up to speed yesterday, I was actually out in Emmitsburg, Maryland at the National Fire Academy. As a guest of Chief Hoover, I was able to sit in on a couple classes and actually examine some burn cells, so that was very interesting and to see a lot of people that are current members out there as well participating and instructing. So I’m learning as I go along and appreciating – appreciate all the help that folks are giving me.

ROD AMMON: Wow, that’s great to hear. That’s a great relationship with the USFA and what they do over there. So tell us a little bit about your background.

SCOTT STEPHENS: Sure. As you said, I came from a public affairs, public relations side of business. I worked with a – I was a partner in a firm based out of Washington, D.C. that worked with several associations and nonprofit clients. Some of our clients included the National Law Enforcement Museum, Volunteers of America, Defense Bar Association. I’ve also served on quite a few boards over the years, one being the American Red Cross, so I understand the nonprofit world. I understand the association world pretty good from a vendor standpoint, so it’s not a big learning curve for me to move on to the client side of the business.

ROD AMMON: I think it’s also really nice to know that you have a background in PR. I’ve – for the years, more than a decade, that I’ve been around with the IAAI working, one of the things that they haven’t been the greatest at is getting out the good word and being able to tell people the real energy and expertise that they have out there, so that’s great to know that you have that background.

SCOTT STEPHENS: Thanks, and we’re starting to see some of that. We’re starting to get – put out press releases on a more regular basis, and our Health and Safety Committee has done some fantastic things, and we’ve been able to get some pickup in other publications and on websites for studies, white papers that we’re doing that have meaningful –transpire over to other fire service industries.

ROD AMMON: It’s – by the way, I think the paper you’re talking about, the health and safety white paper, is available up at firearson.com.

SCOTT STEPHENS: It is. It is along with – there is a Best Practices Quick Facts Sheet as well that can be printed off there that complements the white paper.

ROD AMMON: Okay. Well, I hope people will do that. Again, that’s www.firearson.com. So what made you do the move over to the IAAI?

SCOTT STEPHENS: Good question. You know, I saw a great opportunity to join a well-respected global organization that contributes not only to the fire science community but to the general community as well and went for it.

ROD AMMON: So an interesting opportunity. I’m wondering about challenges and what you saw in the period of time. It’s been, what, three, four – I don’t know. It’s been months. What are the challenges you see?

SCOTT STEPHENS: We are like the Good Housekeeping seal for fire investigation, and we just have to continuously strive to keep at that level of expertise, if you will.

ROD AMMON: I think – and there’s a lot of competition out there from different organizations that are either doing training or may have organizations that are some of the folks that contribute to the fire investigation community. So there’s more and more move to science, and I hear what you’re saying. The Good Housekeeping seal of approval I think is well put, and that would come from CFIs and FITs and all the many different designations and certifications that the IAAI offers. So I could see that as being –

SCOTT STEPHENS: It’s just making sure that our curriculum is current and that we’re at the forefront of technology and that we are constantly updating our classes and our curriculum to reflect what’s going on in the fire science community.

ROD AMMON: I think that’s a challenge with any good organization, especially when you’re trying to be as credible as the IAAI has. So what do you see as opportunities? I know it’s a short period of time that you’ve been around, but you must think about wow.

SCOTT STEPHENS: Let’s go back to the – when you said the challenges.

ROD AMMON: Okay.

SCOTT STEPHENS: We need to stay at the forefront of technology with regard to fire science. I think we also need to be proactive, studying and documenting the cause of origin for new products and technology especially like e-cigarettes and other lithium battery products. So that’s part of the Training and Education Committee, but I think that we’re doing a good job with that, but we need to continuously keep on top of that and keep our finger on the pulse beat of that.

ROD AMMON: It’s nice, too, again going back to your PR background. We can have all this expertise that we want throughout the membership, and there is a lot, but once that content gets put together and information is gathered, it’s good to know that you’ll be putting together a force to get that information out to the public and to other fire investigators.

SCOTT STEPHENS: Correct.

ROD AMMON: So other opportunities for the IAAI to grow?

SCOTT STEPHENS: Well, I think that we have to look at the millennials and others entering the public sector in the fire and law enforcement. That’s the – we have to make our curriculum, our classes, CFITrainer.Net, which is already available to the general public – we have to make that known and, like you said, we have to do a better job of marketing ourselves or branding ourselves, if you will, to the folks that are already on the frontline within the fire and police community and make it known that they can utilize our learning platform to go on to the next step within their careers.

ROD AMMON: Okay.

SCOTT STEPHENS: Also, I think that we should do a better job with working with veterans that are coming out of the military and that want to pursue a career in fire science.

ROD AMMON: That’s something I hadn’t thought about and an interesting, thoughtful idea, and I’m sure there’s quite a bit of it, quite a bit of experience there that would be relevant. I hadn’t thought about it. Usually you think about these IED guys who are the folks in the Army that deal with explosives, but that’s part of our world, and all those explosives have ignition sources and all kinds of other things that are going on that relate to fire. When you think about priorities, you run a tight ship, and you’ve got – let’s say if you look out three to five years, what are you thinking about putting out there as your top priorities?

SCOTT STEPHENS: You know, I want to mimic what President Moylan ran on and talked about at the ITC in Frisco. Our top priority is to continue to grow our membership. We’re healthy, but we need to continually grow that and continue to add relevant content to our CFI Trainer platform and expand our on-the-ground training courses, which we’re doing. We’re constantly adding courses all around the country, actually all around the world, and you and your great team at Stonehouse are doing a phenomenal job adding modules to CFI Trainer. Like I said, I was out at the fire academy yesterday, and people were saying great things about the modules and about the program in general, so when you get that type of feedback, you know you’re doing the right thing, so we just have to continuously build on that foundation and update those modules as needed.

ROD AMMON: Well, thanks for the kind words, and we’re glad to hear that people are speaking up out there about the content that they’re capturing online. Speaking of which, I know that you have worked – are very interested in getting training better marketed, more informative, and more accessible at firearson.com, and that has changed but is going to be changing more so to make it – to bring the content straight up to the user and get it so that they can get the information they need at the appropriate time that they can take those classes and register is something that’s really nice, especially if you’re a member with the way that the flow starts to work now. By the way, when we talk about membership, I think it’s interesting. There was a time when I was around where membership was in the 4,000 zone, and now you’re over 9,000 if I’m not mistaken, correct?

SCOTT STEPHENS: We’re actually – we’re closing in on 10,000.

ROD AMMON: Good news, good news. So in terms of training because that seems to be a big topic, where do you see us going in the IAAI in the future?

SCOTT STEPHENS: Like I said, I think we’re looking at adding additional classes for our existing course and certifications, looking at creating new certifications for specific occurrences like wild land, marine, boat fires. I think we need to look at creating programs specifically for cause of origin. We also need to explore virtual and augmented reality as learning tools. The DOD is using augmented reality similar to what the kids are playing with Fortnite, but it’s first responder. So maybe we take that a step further and add the fire investigator into that, so that’s something that I’d like to explore down the road.

ROD AMMON: Pretty interesting stuff. So how about CFI Trainer? How does that fit as you see us moving ahead into the vision of training? Because that’s become more and more integrated all the time.

SCOTT STEPHENS: Distance learning is here to stay in all aspects of continuing education. That being said, I think we need to just – and what you’re doing. We need to continuously update and create new content. We also have to have a platform that works best for our member base, so the ability to serve content on any type of device from a desktop to a smart phone, because a lot of these people are sitting in a stationhouse, taking – watching your modules on their iPhone or their Android, so just continuously doing what we are doing right now with CFITrainer.net, which is looking at what’s going on with technology and adapting to that technology.

ROD AMMON: All right. Before we wrap up, any messages that – or a message that you want to get out there to the membership, to the fire investigation community?

SCOTT STEPHENS: Yeah. As I’m traveling, I just – I’m grateful to all the members out there that – everybody – there’s a lot of people that volunteer a lot of time and effort and hours to make this organization as great as it is, and it just – continue to do that. Continue to be active within the association, and let us know how we can better serve you. My phone number, email is readily available, so people can call me. People can email me. I strongly suggest the members join committees or submit articles to the journal. Get involved and stay involved. We’re only as good as our members, and we have some pretty great members. So thank you for what you’ve done, and let’s continue to keep doing that. We really appreciate it.

ROD AMMON: It’s a really good point. The expertise inside this membership has been incredible and very supportive of CFI Trainer. Without that expertise, without all that time that those people donate like you said, it just wouldn’t happen. You can make pretty pictures all you want, but until there’s credible content behind it, it’s meaningless. So we’re grateful, and I’m grateful to you for the time. I know you’re sort of getting fired up here still, and I don’t know, from the short period I’ve known you, I don’t think it takes long for you to get fired up.

SCOTT STEPHENS: Well, you know, it’s great to have a job that you really like getting up in the morning going to and working with just phenomenal people, and I’ve got great people in the office, membership top notch and willing to help out in every way. So it makes my learning curve that much quicker I guess, having the support that I do, so I appreciate it as well and look forward to many years of making and growing and continuing to keep us the leaders in fire investigations.

ROD AMMON: Thanks very much for what you’re doing, Scott.

SCOTT STEPHENS: Thank you, Rod. Have a great day.

ROD AMMON: All right, you, too. Be well.

SCOTT STEPHENS: Bye.

ROD AMMON: As was discussed, IAAI’s Health and Safety Committee has released a white paper to address the fact that health and safety practices and protocols for fire investigators have not kept pace with those for firefighters. Occupational exposure to combustion products does not stop when the fire is out. Fire investigators are exposed to vapors, gasses, and particulates, often with less safety preparation and personal protective equipment than firefighters. The white paper provides detailed information on the types of protection to use in various fire situations including hot scenes, warm scenes, and cold scenes. Even a cold scene is not safe—the mere act of walking through debris stirs up particulates that can be inhaled. The white paper also covers protocols to conduct a site-safety survey, guard against skin exposures, and clean and decontaminate gear and equipment after the scene examination. You can read the white paper at firearson.com, and there’s a direct link to it on this podcast’s page.

A few quick news items to close out this podcast.

It was impossible to resist clicking on this headline that came across our desk from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, “Meteorite, Satan ruled out, but fire in hole remains a mystery for Arkansas town.” A mysterious hole in the ground the size of a volleyball ejected a 12-foot flame on September 17th, which burned for more than 40 minutes. The fire was observed by the local fire official who saw it die down and go out. Subsequent investigation found no source of methane or natural gas. Because the hole has been there for some time accordingly to local residents, a recent meteorite strike was ruled out. The hole is linked underground to a nearby drainage ditch, and the indications are that it was probably dug by an animal. Nearby fuel tanks were tested and also ruled out. The investigation is ongoing.

And, finally, here’s one you might have seen in the news because it’s one of those things that you probably couldn’t make up if you tried. An off-duty border patrol agent was ordered to pay more than $8 million in restitution for causing the Sawmill Fire in Coronado State Forest in Arizona. How did he cause it? He shot a rifle at a target containing Tannerite so it would explode and release a colored powder that would indicate the gender of the baby he and his partner were expecting. He did this in front of family and friends at a “gender reveal” party. The explosion of the target touched off a fire that burned 47,000 acres of state and federally-owned land. The agent will also serve probation and make a PSA for the forest service.

Thanks for joining us today on the podcast. Stay safe and we’ll see you next time on CFITrainer.Net. For the International Association of Arson Investigators and CFITrainer.Net, I’m Rod Ammon.

IAAI

Vera, Amir. Border patrol agent's gender reveal party ignited a 47,000-acre wildfire. 2 Oct 2018.

Bowden, Bill. Meteorite, Satan ruled out, but fire in hole remains a mystery for Arkansas town. Arkansas Democrat Gazette. 1 Oct 2018.

Fire Investigator Health and Safety Best Practices. IAAI Health and Safety Committee.