Pipestem hosts International Association of Arson Investigators conference

PIPESTEM, WV (WVNS) — Firefighters and other law enforcement officers representing more than 70 departments from 4 different states gathered at Pipestem the week of Monday, October 7th, 2024 for the annual International Association of Arson Investigators conference.

Arson is one of the most difficult crimes to investigate because most of the evidence is already burned by the time first responders get to the scene.

Scott Rodes from the State Fire Marshal’s office said the training they are receiving this week is crucial for arson investigators.

“This training allows us to have a better understanding of how a fire works inside of structures, inside of vehicles, but also help us to identify patterns that are located inside those structures or vehicles that allow us to determine, again, the origin and cause of fires,” said Rodes.

“Well, education is king here. They want to be able to the fires to occur, look at those fires and try to determine what happened so that at least prevent those fires from happening in the future,” added Capt. Ernie Parsons with the Beckley Fire Department.

The sessions were very informative, however, the highlight of the day was getting to see K-9 Pluto in action. Pluto is a 3 year old English Labrador Retriever who is trained to detect ignitable liquids by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Pluto’s handler Michele Gregory, with the Allegheny County, PA Fire Department told 59News he is a huge asset to the department, particularly in arson investigations.

“We walk into a fire scene and we can’t necessarily tell if an ignitable liquid was used, or if we smell it, where it’s located and they can pinpoint that in a matter of seconds where as it might take us hours to do the same,” said Gregory.

Pluto is one of only 69 ATF trained ignitable liquid detection K-9s in the entire United States.

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