The application deadline to receive free technical assistance and an onsite review of your arson investigation units under the Arson Investigation Technical Assistance Program sponsored by the U.S. Fire Administration is Feb. 27.

The USFA is offering the service for the 15th year to help strengthen the work of state and local fire investigation units across the country.

More than 130 state and local jurisdictions have taken advantage of the program so far, according to the USFA. The program is designed to help improve arrest and conviction rates and promote arson prevention by highlighting the positive features of a jurisdiction’s arson control operations, recommending options for resolving problem areas and identifying potential interagency and community antiarson partnerships.

Key components of the assistance include an on-site review and a confidential follow-up report with guidelines to improve case outcomes. The assistance focuses on strategies for improving collaboration between fire, police, prosecutors and other state or federal agencies, case prioritization and management, arson data collection and analysis, investigation reports, training and time-of-day staffing coverage.

State, county, or municipal fire investigation agencies interested in participating should meet the following criteria:

• Have a sincere interest in ascertaining the strengths and problem areas of their fire investigation and arson control programs and operations; 

•  Investigate a minimum of 200 fires per year, a significant number of which are determined to be incendiary;

• Provide the necessary application materials and background information, and cooperate with the designated technical assistance team in scheduling the field work; and

• Implement as many of the recommendations as feasible.

The field assessment and technical assistance on arson control is organized around three stages.

Stage One: Information collection and preparation.USFA uses the information on your application to get a basic idea of your current situation and the problems you face. To obtain a more complete picture USFA asks for a package of information to be used to study and prepare for the site visit. USFA also works with the jurisdictions, developing a list of people who will be interviewed and scheduling the interviews and meetings for a site visit.

Stage Two: Site visit and field work. USFA’s fire investigation and arson control experts will spend approximately three days in your area. USFA will conduct interviews and meetings, review additional data, and analyze information from all relevant sources. There will be a kick-off meeting to explain the project to all principals; later, USFA officials meet with selected officials to review the main issues and close out the field work.

Stage Three: Preparation of draft and final report. After the site visit, a draft report containing a description of your jurisdiction and of your arson-control measures is completed. The report also will highlight the positive features found and discuss the problem areas. Recommendations for improvements and changes will be itemized. You will have three weeks to review and provide comments on the draft report before a final report is prepared. You are asked to implement as many of the recommendations as feasible.

Click here for an application. Applications should be returned no later than Feb. 27 to:

USFA-Arson Investigation Technical Assistance Project
Joseph Ockershausen, Project Manager
TriData Corporation
1000 Wilson Boulevard
30th Floor
Arlington, VA 22209
Phone: (703) 351-8300
Fax: (703) 351-8383
E-mail: jockershausen@tridatacorp.com