Firefighters Learn to Investigate an Arson

Firefighters from all over Ohio are training in Zanesville this week to learn how to investigate the cause of a fire.

Zanesville Fire Chief Dave Lacy said the International Association of Investigation puts on this arson training school. The three day training class will be held at Secrest Auditorium and at Zanesville’s building maintenance facility where burning drills will take place.

"Arson is a big problem in the entire county and training investigators to properly do their job of investigation and prosecution of that training it takes on going training," Lacy said.

Senior Research Scientist at the Building and Fire Research Lab at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Dick Gann was the key note speaker for today’s opening seminar.  He said he’s raising awareness about a new Ohio cigarette regulation that went into effect May 1st.

"The regulation says that a cigarette can’t generate enough heat to keep burning.So when it falls on a piece of furniture it loses heat to the furniture and goes out," Gann said.

Gann said cigarettes are the single leading cause of fire deaths in the country. He said these new modified cigarettes are safer.