Dear djm9375,

Thank you for your “constructive criticism.” Ordinarily I make it a policy not to respond to unsigned, anonymous postings, particularly when they are openly, or in your case vaguely, insulting. But as you seem to be a fellow NAFI member, and have publically decried the “quality” of our association’s “lastest (sic) issue of [the] NAFI ‘newsletter,’” and unfortunately did so without so much as a phone call in which I could personally explain things to you - I have decided to respond here.

I certainly find no fault with a NAFI member expressing negative opinions about his own organization. I truly believe it is not only your right, but your duty to do so. Each of us has an obligation to further the quality of our own and our colleagues work, professionalism, technology, and methodology. This includes making our organizations better and more responsive to their members. Please feel free to publically post your suggestions on how you and I can work together to make NAFI, and for that matter – IAAI, better.

You are correct; the IAAI has a wonderful quarterly publication. I too look forward to receiving my copies. The IAAI Fire and Arson Investigator is larger and more attractively published than our NAFI’s National Fire Investigator. There is a good reason for this, NAFI has no paid staff, and all of the work of NAFI is by volunteers or donated by individual members. Also there are purposefully no advertisements in the NAFI National Fire Investigator, so we do not have the financial benefit of, nor any quid pro quo obligations to, advertisers. Therefore the cost of our publication is entirely supported by your and my dues.

Such volunteerism is at the heart of all of the NAFI activities: programs, training, publications, published articles, 921 and 1033 committee participation, websites, office work, even cleanup. There would be no NAFI without it. The National Fire Investigator relies entirely upon voluntary submissions from its members. Make no mistake the quality of the technical articles is second to none.

As to Chris Bloom’s and Eric Stauffer’s comments about copyright issues, NAFI’s philosophy is, and has always been, dedication to the free exchange of ideas in our professional community. Any submitting author maintains the right to freely distribute his articles as he or she wishes. NAFI exists primarily to “spread the word” as far as it will go. Though the National Fire Investigator and The Proceedings of the International Symposium on Fire Investigation Science and Technology are copyrighted, NAFI in no way restricts the free exchange of individual articles by their authors. To do so would be in conflict with NAFI’s purpose - “…to increase the knowledge and improve the skills of persons engaged in the investigation and analysis of fires, explosions, and arson, or in the litigation, which ensues from such investigations.”

NAFI was not formed for the individual who seeks only to pay the dues, and then sit back and wait for the mailman to arrive. It was put together by a cadre of dedicated fire investigation professionals in an attempt to improve the profession. I look forward to hearing from you (publically or privately), your submission of an article for the National Fire Investigator, a paper for ISFI, or feel free to volunteer at a National Training Program (we can always use an extra pair of hands, especially at the upcoming Denver training program).

By the way, Journal is spelled with an “a,” not an “e.” In your anonymous zeal to criticize, take a moment and hit that spell check key one in a while.

Pat Kennedy, CFEI, CFPS, MIFireE
Fire and Explosion Analyst
Sarasota, Florida
[www.kennedy-fire.com]