Fire Cause Analysis was extremely honored to have Andy Berasley, Fire Investigator, CFEI, CVFI, IAAI-FIT and John White, Vice President – Engineering Services, CFI, PE, MS, invited to educate the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Vehicle Fire Investigations in Washington D.C. on December 4, 2018.

Fire Cause Analysis is honored to have been invited to teach a Vehicle Investigation class for the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington D.C. on December 5, 2018.

The class was taught by Automotive Forensic Specialist, Andy Berasley, and Vice President of Engineering, John White.

Class topics include:
Fundamentals of fire investigation
NFPA 921 methodologies
Vehicle systems
Burn patterns
Component analysis and failure modes
Evidence collection
Building your case
Fire modeling

About the Speakers:

Andy Berasley, CFEI, CVFI, IAAI-FIT; Fire Investigator
Andrew Berasley is a certified fire investigator with the responsibility of managing and conducting vehicle fire investigations for Fire Cause Analysis. His years of experience include owning and operating his own auto repair facilities & collision company where he was directly responsible for mechanical issues on vehicles, trucks and heavy equipment. He currently works with law firms and the insurance industry, providing investigations and additional services in all fire-related disciplines including Fire Testing and Auto Related Mechanical & Electrical Studies. In addition, Mr. Berasley has given deposition and trial testimony in both civil and criminal cases.
Andrew Berasley is also responsible for all aspects of evidence recovery, handling & storage, and documentation of evidence, including supervising collection and evidence chain of possession at FCA’s facilities in Northern & Southern California and Arizona.

John White is a partner at Fire Cause Analysis. He is scientist and engineer specializing in material, ignition, and combustion studies. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a Master of Science degree in Fire Protection Engineering. John is a licensed Fire Protection Engineer in the states of Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. He also is a Certified Fire Investigator through the International Association of Arson Investigators. He is an alternate member on the NFPA 130 committee NFPA 130 Fixed Guideway Transit & Passenger Rail Systems and is a member of the NFPA research division and Society of Fire Protection Engineers.

John’s work consists of fire investigation, evaluation of appliances for ignition and fire spread capability, fire initiation and growth studies, fire, and computational fluid dynamic modeling, and evaluation of active and passive fire protection systems. Recently, he has been involved with large‐scale projects and contracts involving light and heavy rail car material fire performance and evaluation of passive fire protection systems for steel structures.