HARWICH – Members of the Harwich Fire Department were among the 18 police and firefighters who completed the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy’s six-day Advanced Fire Investigation course.
The professional training provides public safety professionals with the advanced skills to accurately determine the origin and cause of fires in their jurisdiction and build solid, prosecutable cases.
The 18 graduates included 13 firefighters, three local police and two state police officers from across the Commonwealth.
“The team concept of fire investigation has been used successfully in Massachusetts for over 20 years and it starts with joint training,” said State Fire Marshall Peter Ostroskey. “When police and fire are trained in the same techniques and procedures together, the consistency leads to accurate origin and cause determinations, and when arson is the cause, solid criminal cases.”