The Fire Investigator Becomes an Expert Witness: A Review of NFPA 921, Guide for Fire Investigation, and NFPA 1033, Qualifications for the Fire Investigator

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The Fire Investigator Becomes an Expert Witness: A Review of NFPA 921, Guide for Fire Investigation, and NFPA 1033, Qualifications for the Fire Investigator
Roger Krupp, Clarendon Hills Fire Department David Evinger, Grotefeld and Hoffman Randy Watson, SEA Limited Rick Hammond, HelperBroom Stuart Sklar, Fabian and Sklar Terry-Dawn Hewitt, McKenna Hewitt

A fire investigator may be called upon to testify in a deposition or civil or criminal trial, becoming an expert witness. Expert witnesses are the lynchpin of fire and explosion cases. If an expert is insufficiently qualified or performs poorly in their investigation or in the heat of litigation, even the most promising case can sour quickly. This Xtended Session panel presentation will provide a review of NFPA 921 and 1033 and how they apply to the investigation phase and the deposition and trial testimony phase from various perspectives. Attending will help you as the fire investigator to be prepared to conduct your fire investigation with anticipation that you may ultimately be called upon to testify in a deposition or trial.

Presented by:

Roger Krupp, Clarendon Hills Fire Department
Roger Krupp is a Team Manager with State Farm Insurance amd serves as Deputy Chief on his local combination fire department. He is a Certified Fire Investigator with the State of Illinois, IAAI, and NAFI. He is the Chief Liaison for the MABAS 10 Fire Investigation Team and is Past President of the IAAI. Roger is a member of the NFPA 1033 Technical Committee.

David Evinger, Grotefeld and Hoffman
David Evinger is the managing partner in the Minneapolis office of Grotefeld, Hoffmann, Schleiter, Gordon, & Ochoa. His practice focuses on catastrophe litigation with primary emphasis on fires and explosions. He earned his BA from Jamestown College and his JD from the University of Notre Dame. Mr. Evinger is a principle member on the NFPA 921, Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations, Technical Committee. He has served on the attorney advisory committee of the International Association of Arson Investigators, and he is a member of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel. Mr. Evinger has authored several publications on Fire and Explosion Investigations and NFPA 921.

Randy Watson, SEA Limited
Randy Watson is Regional Manager (Atlanta, GA office) and Senior Fire Investigator and Training Coordinator for the national forensic company, S-E-A, Limited. He currently serves as Chairman of the NFPA Technical Committee on Fire Investigation and is a member of the Technical Committee on Fire Investigator Professional Qualifications. With over 38 years of experience, Randy has qualified in numerous jurisdiction as an expert in fire investigation and fire investigation methodology.

Rick Hammond, HelperBroom
Rick Hammond is a Partner at the law firm of HeplerBroom LLC. He serves as national counsel on matters relating to property insurance coverage, fire and explosion cases, bad faith, and as counsel to corporate executives, municipalities and elected officials on high-profile business litigation cases. He also serves as an expert witness on insurer bad faith and insurance law and coverage issues, and he is an Adjunct Professor on Insurance Law at the John Marshall Law School. Before practicing law, Rick was the Assistant Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Insurance's Chicago office, and he held managerial positions in property claims and agency for two national insurance carriers. Rick recently returned to his prior role as the Executive Director of the Insurance Committee for Arson Control (ICAC), after serving many years as ICAC's General Counsel. Mr. Hammond is Past-President of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, formerly served on the faculty and Board of Directors of the Insurance School of Chicago, and he is a columnist for the International Association of Special Investigation Units' (IASIU) magazine, "SIU Today.

Stuart Sklar, Fabian and Sklar
Stuart Sklar is an attorney that primarily represents policyholders and those injured or killed in fires and explosions. He is a principal member of the NFPA 921 technical committee and also a principal member of the NFPA 1033 technical committee. Stuart

Terry-Dawn Hewitt, McKenna Hewitt
Terry-Dawn Hewitt, B.A. (Spec.), LL. B., C.I.P., LL.M.: Terry-Dawn has focused her career as a trial lawyer on fire litigation. She is barrister and solicitor in Canada and an attorney-at-law in the US, with an LL.B degree (equivalent to a JD) from the Un