|
|
The investigative division consists of one full-time fire investigator holding the rank of Division Chief and twelve on-shift investigators, three are Captains, three are Driver/Engineers and six are Firefighter/Paramedics. The Division Chief as well as four of the investigators are certified peace officers and origin and cause investigators with the remaining being origin and cause only.
The investigative unit is used on all suspicious or unknown causes involving structure, vehicle, and wild land fires. The group is also responsible for background checks for new applicants, respond to bomb threats/suspicious items, and perform internal affairs investigations.
The shift investigators are used after hours and when the full time investigator is off. They are responsible for determining the origin and cause of the fire and gathering all necessary information for police and prosecution reports.
Another function of the investigation unit is our Juvenile Fire-Setter Intervention Program. This program evaluates first time offenders and their families and will work in assisting the family if they are experiencing a child or teen that has a curiosity of fire. This includes professional counseling and/or in house “homework”. This “homework” is done with on duty personnel and takes three to six weeks of one to two hours per week to complete. This is used not as a punitive form of discipline, but as an educational intervention to possibly curtail any future involvement with fire-setting.
If there is a fire of major loss or multiple points of origin, the unit has resources to handle virtually any situation. These resources include investigators from surrounding communities in Denton County. This coalition of investigators is known as the Denton County Arson Task Force.
The cost to the citizens of Lewisville to have this wealth of resources available is only to send one of our investigators to the scene of a fire when the Task Force is called out. We also assist our neighboring communities in investigations without the full task force activation. Again this is done in a trade off style, in that they will respond to our city if needed under the mutual aid agreement we have with them.
Chief McGrath has a new K-9 partner, Aretha. She is a Yellow Labrador Retriever trained and certified by the ATF in explosives detection. Through this program Chief McGrath is deputized by the US Marshal’s service as a Task Force Agent for the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives . Chief McGrath and Aretha have assisted with security at all motorsports events at the Texas Motor Speedway, collegiate football games, and the 2008 Superbowl in Phoenix. The team has also provided sweeps for the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Army, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The Lewisville Fire Department is proud to have Aretha as a member of our Department.
