VIDEO: Dozens of law enforcement officers and firefighters from across the state learned how to investigate fires at a Stevens Point Fire Department training facility on Wednesday. This is the fifth annual Investigative Certification Class put on by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Mid-State Technical College and the Stevens Point Fire Department.
Josh Pudlowski, the State Fire Marshal, said it’s a highly sought-after training. “There’s not a lot of places you can go where you actually get to go and investigate a burn cell or a fire that was pre-set up outside of maybe real-life conditions,” he said. “In those cases, oftentimes when there’s a fire, we may not know what started it to begin with. So it’s really hard to train somebody when you don’t know the answers.” The course is the only accredited fire investigative course in Wisconsin. After they complete the 10-day course on Sept. 26, students will know how to identify what started a fire and what signs indicate arson.
