MSP Fire Marshalls
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bigbluemsp
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The Division was disbanned so they will use the main dispatch tgs and sometimes Ive heard them on the CID tgs
bigbluemsp
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Which Fire Division was done away with then?
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bigbluemsp said:
The Governor recommended the unit be "done away with" but the outcry was so very,very loud from the insurance industry and fire departments across the State that the money was found to keep the unit together, albeit in a reduced form.
The FIU unit, which once had twenty-one full time arson investigators, was reduced in late 2005 to nine full-time and three part-time investigators (about 12 Det/Sgts or Spl/Sgts plus two lieutenants). Arson is almost always a crime of economic oportunity. Very rarely is it a vindictive, assaultive, or an act designed to hide the trail of evidence. It takes a very special type of seasoned investigator to dig a fire; it would be like handing a corrections officer a homicide and expecting everything to just fall into place. It just doesn't happen.
The Insurance Institute of Michigan estimates that there is a suspicious fire or arson every 42 minutes in Michigan (one out of about every five fires set).
In 2005, in Michigan alone, there were approximately 3,900 arson fires and another 3,000 suspicious fires, culminating in a loss of nearly $120 Million for the insurance companies.
House Bill 4852 (see below) would, among other things, restore the MSP FIU to its needed level. I can afford another sixty cents a month. Write your rep!
http://mspta.net/MSPTASupportsHB4852.pdf
Also, here's a map of current FIU assignments. I believe its mostly accurate except it indicates Mike Waite covers St. Clair and Macomb Counties. He retired last January and his spot is now worked by Jim Bush.
http://mich.gov/documents/FIUMapandInvestigators4-27-06_157562_7.pdf
BACK ON TOPIC:
I have heard FIU guys on D2E. They go by the "I" designator. Usually they are pretty quiet. I have also heard them telling Troopers to go to "MSP 2." FIU is not usually dispatched directly by a regional dispatch or central dispatch over the radio. Generally the Fire Chief or the dispatch center will call the FIU via telephone.
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bigbluemsp
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I know that 2 Sgts in that division took Desk jobs from Iron Mtn and Petoskey Posts.
I know Sgt Varga didn't want to go back to the desk job because he loved his Fire Division job more then anything but he didn't have the time in to take over the District much less be on the road all the time across the U.P.
I hear the IDA units from time to time as well on D2E but it's not often.
The school I work at was trying to get ahold of Mike after he retired but no one had his number. The school is working on a Fire INvestigator program but I think it recently went to the wayside and Mike was the #1 man on the mind of director to teach the program.
I know Sgt Varga didn't want to go back to the desk job because he loved his Fire Division job more then anything but he didn't have the time in to take over the District much less be on the road all the time across the U.P.
I hear the IDA units from time to time as well on D2E but it's not often.
The school I work at was trying to get ahold of Mike after he retired but no one had his number. The school is working on a Fire INvestigator program but I think it recently went to the wayside and Mike was the #1 man on the mind of director to teach the program.
I have heard very rare "FM" units on the Regional dispatch TG's. Are some of these guys using "FM" and some using "I" units?
...jim
...jim
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