Our Team
Investigators
Don Peak, Kevin Reilly, Robert H. Buffington, Robert A. Holmberg, Jeff Long, Mike McGee
Engineers
Robert Longseth, Ryan Allaire, Jay Kramarczyk,
Bill Mael, Michael Hayes
Investigators:
Donald F. Peak, CFEI, CFI
Operations Manager
Senior Investigator
dpeak@phoenix-investigations.com
Donald F. Peak is President and Co-Founder of Phoenix Investigations, Inc. Don received his A.S. and B.S. in Fire Science Technology. He is recognized as a Diplomat of the American Board of Engineering and Technology with the American College of Forensic Examiners.
Don’s background includes of 25 years with the former Lakewood/Bancroft Fire Protection District. He was one of two investigators assigned to the investigation division when it was formed and was the officer in charge of the division from 1976 through 1992. He achieved the rank of Assistant Chief through competitive examination during his tenure with the fire department. During the last 9 years he served as District Chief and Shift Commander.
Don is an experienced origin and cause investigator who has conducted over 1,400 fire investigations excluding hundreds of supervised investigations. He has been qualified in the State and Federal Courts of Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. He has testified in numerous trials and depositions as an expert in fire origin and cause, fire ground strategy and tactics, and codes and ordinances.
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Kevin Reilly, CFEI, CVFI
Investigations Manager
Senior Investigator
kreilly@phoenix-investigations.com
Kevin Reilly has 22 years in the fire service in both New Hampshire and Colorado, and currently works for Phoenix Investigations and for the Public Agency Training Council. He has extensive training in Fire Origin and Cause Determination, Arson Investigations, Juvenile Fire Setters, as well as being a Certified Instructor for Emergency Response to W.M.D. / Terrorism Events and Clandestine Laboratory Identification for First Responders.
Kevin recently retired as a Battalion Chief from the Loveland Fire Department Fire Prevention Bureau as the lead investigator for fires within the district. He has been actively involved in fire investigations for the past 20 years.
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Robert H. Buffington, CFI (Arizona Office)
Senior Investigator
rbuffington1@cox.net
Bob has over 16 years experience with the Colorado Springs Fire Department as a firefighter with eight of those years as a fire/arson investigator.
As the owner of Rampart Investigations from 1980 to 2007, he has directly investigated and/or been involved in the investigation of over 5,100 fires, as well as other types of insurance fraud.
He has instructed numerous courses and seminars for various insurance carriers, fire departments, police departments, and other law enforcement agencies throughout the country.
Bob is a qualified expert in the US District Court, District, County and Municipal Courts in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana and Kansas.
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Robert A. Holmberg, CFI, CFEI, CVFI
Senior Investigator
bholmberg@phoenix-investigations.com
Bob worked for the Bismarck Fire Department for 23 years until his employment at Phoenix Investigations, Inc. He became actively involved with the fire department’s origin and cause investigation unit in 1988. Since that time he has been involved in all aspects of fire investigation.
He was instrumental in founding the North Dakota Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators and is a past president of the chapter. He is a member of the International Association of Arson Investigators and National Association of Fire Investigators.
Bob was the first North Dakota origin and cause investigator to become certified by the International Association of Arson Investigators as a Certified Fire Investigator. He is also certified as by the National Association of Fire Investigators as a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator. In 2003, he attended the National Association of Fire Investigators seminar at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky where he was certified as a Certified Vehicle Fire Investigator, CVFI. Bob has testified in numerous trials and depositions as an expert in fire origin and cause.
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Jeff Long, CFI 
(New Mexico office)
Senior Investigator
jlong@phoenix-investigations.com
Jeff was a Senior Fire Investigator for the Salt Lake City Fire Department and held that position for sixteen years until his retirement in 2001 after twenty eight years of service. He has investigated approximately 4000 fires and successfully assisted in the prosecution and conviction of arson fires in Federal, State and Juvenile courts.
Since retirement from Salt Lake City Fire Department, he began working as a private fire investigator, owning his own private investigation company and is now employed with us as a senior fire investigator. Jeff will be able to conduct origin and cause fire investigations throughout the Western States. During his time as a private investigator, he has successfully investigated numerous fires involving product liability and insurance fraud cases.
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Mike McGee, CFEI, CVTI 
Senior Investigator
Investigative Locksmith
NIASE Master Technician
Certified Master ASE Technician
mmcgee@phoenix-investigations.com
Mike is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator, Certified Vehicle Theft Investigator, and a 30 year ASE Master Heavy Duty Truck and Automotive Technician. Mike has work experience with heavy construction equipment, mining equipment and commercial trucks along with American, European, and Asian vehicles. Mike is also a skilled and certified vehicle theft investigator. Before coming to Phoenix in May 2008, Mike was the Chief of the Rochester (Ohio) Volunteer Fire Dept. He has over 20 years experience as an arson investigator. Mike also designed and instructed the college level Industrial Truck Mechanic program for Lorain County Vocational School in Oberlin, Ohio.
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Engineers:
Robert Longseth, PE, CFEI
Engineering Manager
rlongseth@phoenix-investigations.com
Robert is a licensed Professional Engineer in multiple states. He is able to conduct forensic investigations on both mechanical and electrical systems and is familiar with the applicable codes, standards, and regulations. Since starting at Phoenix Robert has been involved in over 500 investigations and has been court qualified as an expert on multiple occasions. His ability to investigate both mechanical and electrical systems provides the unique ability to evaluate most of the items in a structure for failure modes.
He graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a double major in mechanical and electrical engineering. He worked for Ball Aerospace for two years as a test engineer and worked for IBM prior to that.
His primary experience outside of Phoenix is in test engineering. He has designed and performed tests for electrical, mechanical, and optical systems. He has also performed structural tests and inspections for buildings. He has experience in shock and vibrational testing, electrical circuit board/component testing, and designing/performing tests to verify that satellites meet requirements for different light spectrums. He has also performed structural steel inspections, soil testing, and concrete testing. This broad background in test engineering provides the ability to test items in a laboratory setting in the most efficient manner to obtain the necessary information.
Robert is experienced in a plethora of activities including repairing vehicles and machines, and structural construction. He has performed electrical work both in structures and vehicles. He has performed plumbing of all varieties including bathrooms, kitchens, water heaters, and washing machines.
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Ryan Allaire, PE, CFEI 
Electrical Engineer
rallaire@phoenix-investigations.com
While working at Phoenix Laboratory and Engineering Services, Ryan has been involved in both fire investigations and water loss investigations. His involvement in these cases ranges from investigative assistant to lead engineer. He has investigated arson, appliance failures, electrical fires, HVAC failures, and vehicle fires. His water loss investigations include appliance failures, installation defects, product defects, plumbing and freeze failures.
Prior to working for Phoenix, Ryan worked in test engineering/failure analysis for Raytheon Company, Space and Airborne Systems. He designed, integrated, and performed tests for power supplies and converters, digital electronics, analog to digital converters, and optical systems. His role as a test engineer was to develop test equipment designed from test methods developed from prime hardware design requirements.
His electrical test experience involved testing and troubleshooting for airborne and satellite hardware. He was involved in integrating and testing prime hardware at the module, unit, and system levels using manual and automated forms of testing.
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Jay Kramarczyk, MS, PE, CFEI 
Fire Protection/Mechanical Engineer, Senior Fire Investigator
jkramarczyk@phoenix-investigations.com
Jay is a licensed Fire Protection Engineer in multiple states. He is familiar with codes, standards, and regulations as well as the design, installation, and maintenance of wet and dry pipe automatic sprinkler systems in both residential and commercial occupancies. Specifically Jay can analyze when sprinkler systems freeze or fail causing water damage or when they fail to appropriately respond to a fire.
Jay is also experienced in specialized fire protection systems, such as chemical and commercial kitchen suppression systems. As a forensic fire protection engineer, Jay often analyzes fire and smoke detection and alarm systems, as well as appropriate building egress and construction. Additionally Jay is trained in the application and use of computerized fire models.
He has presented numerous technical training classes throughout the country including several classes relating to forensic fire protection engineering, electrical fires, arc mapping and the forensic use of X-ray equipment in laboratory and field settings. He has presented to groups including various claims associations, SIU groups, the International Association of Arson Investigators, and the National Association of Subrogation Professionals.
An active member of the NCEES/SFPE Professional Engineer Exam Licensing Committee, Jay helps write the Fire Protection Professional Engineering examination for applicants interested in becoming licensed fire protection engineers. Jay has been certified in court as an expert witness and has testified numerous times as such.
Outside of work Jay is active in his church and is on the dive team at the Denver Downtown Aquarium. He also enjoys kayaking, golfing, and exploring Colorado in his 1971 Jeep.
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Bill Mael, BSTS, (ACTAR #42) 
Forensic Engineer - Accident Reconstruction
bmael@phoenix-investigations.com
William Mael is a Registered Accident Reconstructionist (Accreditation registration No. 42). He is experienced in all aspects of vehicle accident reconstruction and analysis. Bill has specialized lengthy experience in the study of Crash Data Retrieval (vehicle black box data), motorcycle operation and crash analysis along with crash animation applications.
Bill is also certified by the State of Colorado Board of Education and Higher Learning to instruct in the field of accident investigation and accident reconstruction. He has been active in several programs through the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in the area of Crash Science and Technology where he contributes to the evaluation of new technology in crash analysis along with specialized training program delivery.
Mr. Mael has over twenty-five years law enforcement and crash reconstruction experience. Bill had authored numerous training manuals, technical treatises, and publications. He's served as keynote speaker at several universities professional organizations and industry seminars throughout the United States. Bill holds a BS Degree in Transportation Safety Engineering and is currently pursuing his masters degree.
Bill also serves Phoenix Laboratory and Engineering Services as a Forensic Engineer specializing in damage evaluation, paint analysis, theft determination, and micro engineering applied to motor vehicle failure analysis.
Bill is a member of many professional affiliations, including the Society of Accident Reconstruction Specialists (SOAR), the National Association of Professional Accident Reconstructionists, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the American Association for Automotive Medicine (AAAM), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Southwestern Association of Technical Accident Investigators. Mr. Mael also serves on the Governing Board of Directors for the Accreditation Commission in curriculum development and evaluation and as Chairman of the Applicant Review Committee.
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Michael Hayes, PE
Structural Engineer
mhayes@phoenix-investigations.com
Michael Hayes has his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with a focus in structures from Ohio University. He is a registered professional engineer in multiple states and has worked for eight years in the engineering profession; six and a half years in building structures and a year a half with a bridge design and inspection group.
During his career, he has had the opportunity to design different structures from schools, churches, dormitories, assisted-living homes, hospitals, multi-story businesses to private home. He has provided design engineering for the Pennsylvania Turnpike commission, as well as bridge inspections for the Pennsylvania DOT.
As Phoenix’s investigative structural engineer, Michael’s duties will include will include assessing hail damage claims, foundation settlements, as well as providing structural failure and emergency shoring evaluations. He can also provide stamped repair plans as needed.
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