President: Peter Mansi

IAAI-UK President: Peter Mansi IAAI-CFI, GIFireE IAAI Director of the Board

Peter has been an operational fire officer within the London Fire Brigade for almost 28 years; the last ten of those as a Fire Investigator and since 2001 a Station Manager within the Fire Investigation Group. In October 2008 he took up post as the Borough Commander of the City of London and from May 2009 is also managing the Fire Investigation Group at its new central location within the City of London.

In October 2001, he helped instigate the Arson Reduction Team, analysing and addressing the extensive problem of arson in London. To this end, he was instrumental in establishing Borough Arson Liaison Officers in each of the 33 boroughs within London, consisting of a police officer and a fire officer to focus on ‘all things arson’ within their respective boroughs. He has supported the development of Forensic Arson Liaison Officers with Scotland Yard’s SCD4 within each of the borough teams.

Peter was responsible for writing the Memorandum of Understanding between the London Fire Brigade and the Metropolitan Police Service, which was agreed and signed in January 2003 and also the Memorandum of Understanding between the London Fire Brigade and Crimestoppers London, which was signed in March 2004.

Having been part of the management team that supervises 28 dedicated fire investigation officers, 2 of whom are canine hydrocarbon handlers and several officers who are on fire investigation development programmes in London, he still actively investigates fires and has developed the role of a ‘protracted scene manager’ at complex, high profile or protracted fire investigations. One of Peter’s roles within the London Fire Brigade is as a Hazardous Materials and Environmental Protection Officer (HazMat). Peter was the lead fire investigator on the double fire-fighter fatalities investigation that occurred in Bethnal Green, East London in July 2004; he was the lead fire investigator on the Iron Mountain storage facility major fire in Bow, East London, which attracted 20 fire engines and took several days to extinguish. He is investigating the origin, cause and development of a fire in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland, which claimed the lives of two fire fighters in September 2007 and reviewing the fire investigation into the fire in Warwickshire that claimed the lives of four fire fighters in November 2007.

Peter was involved with a working group during 2004/5, which developed the National Occupational Standards for Fire Investigation within the UK and was published in 2005. He also sits on the IAAI Fire Investigation Standards Committee (FISC), the IAAI CFI Committee, the IAAI Membership Committee and the IAAI Offshore Training Committee. Peter is serving as a Director on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Arson Investigators (Global).

He is studying for a PhD by carrying out research on the methodology of arson investigations focusing on both accidental and deliberate fires and particularly on the arsonist(s) to help improve the prosecuting rates that currently exist (currently approximately 3%). He has recently published in the UK and USA his ‘Ten Stage System’ to assist in serial arson investigations. Peter a Member of the Forensic Science Society.

Vice President: John Galvin

John has been a serving Fire Officer with the London Fire Brigade for over 28 years in both Operational and Specialist roles and has been a dedicated Fire Investigation Officer since 1995. During that time he has been the lead investigator on over 2000 incidents including fatal and major fires.

He was one of the first 2 people in the UK to become a Certified Fire Investigator whilst attending the IAAI AGM in Nevada, USA in April 2003 and has been instrumental in adapting and establishing the CFI programme within the UK.

John has attended and instructed on many fire investigation courses both in the UK and USA including the ATF CFI re-cert course.

Prior to his fire service career John was an aeronautical engineer. His engineering background included both electrical and instrumentation systems with a period working in R & D. John has a BSc (Hons) Technology and holds diplomas in design and pollution control. He is a Certified Fire Investigator and a member of the Forensic Science Society.

As a committee member John deals with all issues relating to membership including applications and the IAAI-CFI programme in the UK.

Secretary: Claire Purton

Claire has been an Arson Task Force Practitioner with the London Fire Brigade since the creation of its Arson Task Force in July 2004. She has been the recipient of several awards for the work she has carried out in some of the most prolific arson areas in the United Kingdom.

Claire received a letter of congratulations from the Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade for her contribution to the Tower Hamlets’ Arson Sub-Group; she received a ‘Safer London - Problem Solving’ award from the Metropolitan Police Service for her diligent arson case management work carried out on a social housing estate in East London and she was awarded the Commissioner’s Certificate of Commendation for her ‘Dedication and Professional Hard Work’ as part of the Arson Task Force Team.

Claire has delivered training across many of the 33 London Boroughs, educating officers of the Metropolitan Police Service, and in particular their Police Community Safety Officers that illegally dumped rubbish and other accumulation of unwanted items present an available fuel package for the opportunistic arsonists.

She was on a working party that developed the ‘Ten Stage System’ for serial arson investigations and has been instrumental in managing several cases where the arsonist would most probably not have been apprehended without her involvement.

Claire has created, developed and implemented the London Fire Brigade’s S.A.F.E. (Stop Arson For Ever) project for schools in which deliberate fire setting has been reported. The project highlights the consequences of fire and fire setting and she has helped refer previously unidentified fire setters to the London Fire Brigade’s Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention scheme.

When addressing the many arson problems that exist within London, her strengths begin by looking at the statistics and the statistical analysis carried out by various organisations’ data analysts. She realises those statistics into a language that can be understood by all interested parties and by applying the ‘Ten Stage System’ for serial arson investigations, has assisted with successful prosecutions.

Claire’s involvement with arson issues began sometime before her joining the Arson Task Force in London; she supported victims of arson for over seven years during her role as co-ordinator for East Sussex Fire Victim Support Unit. She has also helped victims of arson within her role in the Victim Support Team in Hastings, East Sussex, which offered a support service for victims of personal crime, including arson attacks, sexual assault, homophobic attacks, racially motivated crimes, physical and mental abuse. She liaised with Police Officers, prepared reports, data-input, case delegation and co-ordination of work load for volunteers.

Between 2000 and 2003 Claire carried out voluntary work for the Woodlands National Health Trust whilst living in Hastings, East Sussex as a Mental health Manager reviewing the Sectioning Appeals and determining legalities of application on specific cases, including arson.

She has attended fire investigation training courses in the USA, passing the course tests at the International Association of Arson Investigators Annual Training Courses in Washington (2005), Denver (2006), Victoria (Canada 2007), Denver (2008) and Texas (2009).

Claire has also attended courses and seminars throughout the UK, including The NAFI/NFPA Fire Investigation Seminar (2004) at the Fire Service Collage in Moreton-in-Marsh, the Cleveland International Fire Investigation Conference (2005) and the Gardiner Associates "Live, Learn, Pass It On" (2003 & 2005). She has attended the International Association of Arson Investigators –UK (IAAI-UK) ‘Photography at Fire Scenes’ training course on the 13th March 2006 (TESTED – Passed) and the Gardiner Associates one week practical foundation Course (2006) - passed.

Claire organised and managed the IAAI-UK’s four-day ‘International Fire and Arson Investigation Conference’ in central London in July 2008 attracting over 100 delegates from around the world. She also manages and selects speakers for the IAAI-UK’s Annual Training Conferences and Summer Training Conferences.

Claire is the Secretary for the International Association of Arson Investigators (United Kingdom) Chapter and the committee member who is responsible for Press and PR for the UK Chapter.

Treasurer: Dave Stokes

Dave Stokes is a serving Fire Officer with the Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and is currently Station Commander of Stevenage Fire Station.

He has been an active fire investigation officer for just over 13 years and a firefighter for 34 years. He has trained in fire investigation with the Fire Service College, Gardiners Associates and more recently successfully completed the ATF course at FLETC in the USA.

Training & Education: Michael Jones

Mike started work as an electrical design and commissioning engineer in the nuclear industry then moved to the petro-chemical industry in the field of certification of explosion protected apparatus. He also presented training courses on the keeping such equipment safe and very much enjoyed the interaction with other engineers and the opportunities it provided for learning.

Mike then moved into fire investigation and works mainly on civil matters for the insurance industry but is occasionally asked to deal with criminal matters either for the Defence or the Prosecution. His work has great diversity and, following from his engineering days, he seeks every opportunity to talk about his cases with like minded individuals so as to learn and to pass on knowledge – an especially important process for a field that is in its infancy in terms of scientific development.

Membership & Newsletter: Joanne Morrissey

Jo is the Supervisor for the Crime Lab, Latent Print Unit and Property Room of the High Point Police Department in North Carolina. She was previously a Senior Forensic Practitioner with the Metropolitan Police Service in London, where she was based in Camden, Ealing and Hackney boroughs for 17 years.

Jo has an MSc in Fire Investigation and in July 2005 she completed the ATF’s 2 week “Advanced Cause & Origin and Courtroom Techniques” course in Georgia, USA.

Jo has been involved in fire and forensic awareness training for Police and Crime Scene Examiners both in the UK and the US including the NC IAAI and IAI.

Website: Nick Carey

Nick Carey is a full-time Fire Investigator based at Acton, West London. He started his career in the London Fire Brigade (LFB) over 25 years ago and has been a specialist Fire Investigator for 14 years.

In January 2002, Nick attended the ATF`s 2 week "Advanced Cause & Origin and Court Room Techniques" course in Brunswick, Georgia, USA.

In May 2002 "Fire Prevention & Fire Engineers Journal" published an article on applying Arc Mapping to UK wiring systems. The article included the research carried out in North Carolina and included a UK case history. In 2007 he published a paper on his research into the reliability of arc mapping and localised melting (arcing damage) to electrical conductors at Interflam 2007.

In October 2004 Nick was awarded the Forensic Science Society`s Fire Investigation diploma.

Nick is an IAAI Certified Fire Investigator and a Member of the Forensic Science Society.

In 2009 he completed a PhD with the University of Strathclyde for his research titled “Developing a reliable systematic analysis for arc fault mapping”.

Chapter Support: Roger Berrett

Bachelor of Science, Doctor of Philosophy in the faculty of Science (Birkbeck College, University of London), practicing forensic scientist for 32 years, formerly a Principal Scientist at the Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory, (Scotland Yard) and, since 1988, exclusively specialising in fire investigation and related matters.

Currently a Consultant in fire investigation to a number of Companies, Individuals, Lawyers and Police organisations. Investigated approximately 800 fires in the United Kingdom, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Pakistan and Spain and lectured on the subject at various national and international conferences and training courses for Scientists, Police and Fire Brigade personnel. A founder member of the ‘Fire and Explosion Investigation Working Group’ of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes.

Member: Sheilah Hamilton

A Chemist by training, Sheilah also has degrees in Criminology and Hong Kong history where she studied the interaction of Hong Kong Government and private security from 1841 to 1941.

Sheilah's been a practicing forensic scientist since 1968 having worked in the Hong Kong Government Forensic laboratory for twenty years (1968-1988), the South Australian Government Forensic laboratory for 7 months in 1988 and also having run her own forensic consultancy for 12 years in Hong Kong as the only independent forensic scientist (1989-2000). In February 2001 she joined the University of Glamorgan as Principal Lecturer in Forensic Science but left in September 2005 to join the Building and Construction Department of the City University of Hong Kong as Associate Professor and resurrect her consultancy "Forensic Focus".

Whilst working in the Hong Kong lab she attended cases of suspicious fires and also analysed items from such scenes for traces of accelerants. Starting in 1990 she began investigating suspicious fires in Hong Kong and also in other parts of South East Asia (e.g. Philippines, Thailand, Peoples Republic of China). Sheilah’s also attended many courses and workshops on fire investigation.

In 2004-5 Sheilah was President of the South Wales branch of the Institute of Fire Engineers (IFE) and also served on the committee of the SE Wales branch of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

A Fellow of (i) the Royal Society of Chemistry, (ii) the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, (iii) the Institution of Fire Engineers and (iv) the Forensic Science Society.