Chris is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator and Certified Level II Fire Inspector with over 18 years of experience at the London Fire Department, where he worked in fire suppression, inspections, investigations, and as Acting Chief Fire Prevention Officer. Since 2021, he has served as a Fire Prevention Officer and Investigator with the Municipality of Southwest Middlesex Fire Department.
In addition to his operational work, Chris is a professor at Fanshawe College, teaching fire inspection and investigation in the Fire and Life Safety program and Public Safety Fundamentals. He is the Lead Instructor for the NFPA 1033 Fire Investigation Course with the Ontario Fire College and delivers organization-wide fire inspection and investigation training for the London Fire Department. He also teaches the NFPA 921 Course “Guide for Fire and Explosions” with IAAI Ontario.
Chris specializes in fire department litigation, providing expert analysis in fire origin and cause, suppression tactics, and response protocols. His work supports legal teams and municipalities in defending or prosecuting claims related to fire department conduct, equipment failure, and operational decision-making. With a deep understanding of NFPA standards, the Ontario Fire Code, and departmental guidelines, policies, and procedures, he bridges the gap between fire inspection/investigation and the legal complexities surrounding fire department liability.
Specializing in fire and explosions investigations and electrical engineering, Chris is qualified as an expert witness in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and has investigated over 1000 forensic incidents to date. In addition to over 10 years of fire and explosions experience, Chris has over 20 years’ experience working as an electrical engineer in the field of high and low voltage motors, generators, transformers and electrical equipment failure mode investigations and analysis, including electrical components design, repair and testing methods.
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 1,488 fire and explosion occurrences, including 135 fatal fires and 60 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.
Stephen has a 40-year career as an Ontario Fire Marshal and Police Investigator, during which he has led or assisted in over 800 fire and explosion investigations. He has provided expert testimony as a Collision Reconstructionist and has specialized in vehicle and marine fire investigations. This skill set entails the identification, collection, preservation, and presentation of evidence for use in court, the documentation of scenes, and the interviewing of witnesses.
Andrea is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator. She has over 10 years of experience with the Ontario Fire Marshall, prior to which she served as an officer with the Halton Regional Police Service for 22 years after working in several investigative units to include being a lead Homicide Detective for 3 years. She has attended over 200 autopsies with Halton Regional Police and Ontario Fire Marshall office. To date, Andrea has been involved in over 700 fire and explosive investigations. She has been qualified as an expert in fire and explosive investigations in Ontario Court and Superior Court of Justice for the Province of Ontario. Andrea is also an associate instructor for the Ontario Fire College and has taught the NFPA 1033 fire course to firefighters and police.
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.
Nabi specializes in the forensic structural investigation of buildings and the design of retrofitting schemes for damaged or under-designed structures. In the course of his career, Nabi has conducted structural assessments of existing steel, concrete, masonry and wood buildings under gravity loading, vibration and seismic forces. He has also designed steel and concrete structures, including high-rise residential and office towers, commercial retail units, and long-span steel trusses. Nabi holds a MSc. in Earthquake Engineering from Sharif University of Technology and a Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of Alberta.
Keith is a certified Fire and Explosion Investigator. His professional experience includes over 8 years with the Office of the Fire Commissioner and a further 8 years as a firefighter. He has been involved in more than 450 fire, explosion or technical investigations, and as a Fire and Life Safety Inspector, he has conducted 556 inspections at various building and occupancy types as well as led 14 inspections at illegal grow-ops.
Richard specializes in fire and explosion investigation, fire department litigation, wood-burning appliance investigations, marine fires and chemical reactions. As a forensic engineer and designated consulting engineer with more than 35 years of industry experience, Richard has conducted over 3,500 fire and explosion investigations and has been accepted as an expert by all levels of courts in five provinces.
