Russ is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator, as well as a former Fire Captain, Fire Prevention officer, and member of the Arson Strike Force. He has over 20 years of experience and has performed over 1,000 fire and explosion investigations, including large structural losses, vehicle fires, and wildland fires. Russ also investigates and reports on technical failures, specializing in fire sprinkler systems.
Specializing in structural fires and explosions, Mike’s professional experience includes 16 years as a fire investigator with the Ontario Fire Marshal, 9 years as an Attorney General investigator, and 14 years as a police officer, attaining the rank of Detective. During his career, he has investigated 1,575 fire and explosion occurrences, including 136 fatal fires and 61 gaseous explosions. Mike’s areas of expertise include advanced fire investigation and origin and cause determination. He is trained in post-blast explosion scene investigations as well as gas and electrical appliance fires. Mike has been declared an expert witness at all levels of the criminal and civil justice system.
Dinu is a Lead Engineer with more than 30 years experience in the industry, including more than 23 years in Mechanical, Materials, Product, and Equipment Failure Investigations. Dinu has been the lead investigator on more than 2,500 complex and multidisciplinary investigations in those fields for the insurance industry, risk managers, law firms, manufacturing companies, and private clients. Dinu is a Registered Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario, is designated as a Consulting Engineer, and has been qualified as an expert witness in the Court of King’s Bench of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Dinu has participated in 23 multi-national projects which resulted in the development of new materials and processes. He has taught at undergraduate and graduate levels on materials science and engineering and on failure analysis, and is an active mentor for engineers in training. Dinu is a member of the American Society for Metals (ASM International), American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP, formerly known as NACE, National Association of Corrosion Engineers). Throughout his career, Dinu has delivered both technical papers and presentations at several international conferences on materials science and engineering.
Dinu’s experience and expertise is in a variety of complex metallic and non-metallic (plastic) materials/mechanical failures, mechanical systems and equipment failures, product liability, corrosion, oil spills, residential and commercial plumbing systems and appliances failures, personal injuries associated with product failures, break and entries, insurance fraud, and sprinkler system failures.
Paul is a licensed Professional Engineer specializing in Mechanical and Materials Engineering with expertise in forensic failure analysis. His skills encompass materials testing, metallurgical sample preparation and microstructure characterization.
With hands-on experience in automotive product design and testing, Paul’s knowledge extends to failures in consumer and industrial products, plumbing systems, automotive components, and issues stemming from corrosion, fatigue, improper installation, and poor material selection.
He is proficient in analysing failures related to metals, polymers, glass, ceramics and composites using analytical tools like XRD, XRF, SEM, EDX, and optical microscopy. Paul has collaborated with insurance companies, law firms and industrial risk management teams. His contribution to the field of materials science and engineering is validated by 21 technical publications and presentations.
Ryan specializes in fire and explosion investigations and has 23 years of experience working for the Calgary Police Service, including three years in the Homicide Unit and three in the Joint Forces Arson Unit. During his tenure with the Police Service, Ryan was awarded the Exemplary Service Medal and earned his CFEI and CVFI designations. To date, Ryan has investigated over 1,200 residential, commercial and vehicle fires and/or explosions and has been utilized by public policing agencies and private insurers to assess/conduct and assist with civil and criminal investigations, both ongoing or under review. Additionally, Ryan works regularly with law firms requiring detailed analysis of fire investigations, both public and private, civil and criminal, and has been designated as an expert witness within the discipline of fire investigation by the Provincial Court of Alberta and the Court of Kings Bench. He is a member of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI) and the National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI).
Kevin is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator and Fuels Specialist. He has over 18 years of experience in the fuels industry and over 25 years of skilled trades experience as a Licensed, Red Seal Industrial Electrician. Prior to OCI Group, Kevin spent 10 years as Fuels Inspector/Regional Supervisor with the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) which is the Provincial fuels Regulator in Ontario. As such, Kevin has in-depth knowledge of fuels related technical codes and regulations. His investigative experience includes industrial, commercial, residential, and agricultural fires. Kevin also has experience with incendiary fires suspected to have a fuel involvement, natural gas pipeline fires, fuel spills and gaseous fuel explosions. Kevin is also a Certified Vehicle Fire Investigator. Kevin has given evidence in Provincial Court.
Accepted as an expert witness by the Ontario Superior Court, Steve specializes in fires and explosions and has conducted investigations for over 1,000 fire and explosion scenes. His professional experience includes over 10 years with the Office of the Fire Marshal, Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and extensive experience in automotive repair and inspection.
Peter is a Certified Fire and Explosions Investigator (CFEI) and specializes in fire scene investigation. He is also a qualified expert in both general division and provincial division courts. His professional experience includes 20 years with the Toronto Police and eight years with the Office of the Fire Marshal. He has completed over 900 forensic fire scene investigations which have included fire fatalities, large losses, residential and commercial losses.
With more than 30 years of professional experience, Vladimir’s career has encompassed a number of industries and roles: Insurance appraiser of commercial and industrial machinery, equipment and buildings; quality, production and design engineer and forensic engineer. Vladimir has completed over 1,500 forensic cases, investigating fires and explosions, product failures and various other types of losses. Vladimir graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree from the University of Toronto. He is an Internationally Certified Fire and Explosions Investigator and serves as a board member and training chair of the Canadian Association of Fire Investigators (CAFI), having served in the past as the national president. Vladimir also assists the Standard Council of Canada (SCC) as a designated expert in their Certifying Body (CB) and Laboratory Accreditation programs. Vladimir is also the author of Chapter 10, “Fire Investigation,” in The Lawyer’s Guide to the Forensic Sciences (Irwin Law, 2016), edited by Caitlin Pakosh. He is also the winner of the 2017 Walter Owen Book Prize recognizing excellent legal writing and outstanding contributions to Canadian law.
Mazen is the president of OCI Group and specializes in fire investigation, electrical and electronic failures, product liability and alarm system analysis. With over 40 years of experience in the industry, he has performed over 3,400 fire, product liability and alarm system investigations. Mazen is a licensed professional engineer and designated consulting engineer, and has qualified as an expert witness in both civil and criminal courts in four Canadian provinces and in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA. He is also certified at two levels by the Canadian Alarm and Security Association as an alarm technician.
