Holyoke, MA. — July 21 — Firefighter Will Alicea and Lieutenant Chad Cunningham were assigned to the Holyoke Fire Department's Fire Investigation Unit. Alicea joined the department in 2001, while Cunningham joined in 2007. Both had continued their regular departmental jobs while undergoing years of training to become fire investigators. As part of their new responsibilities, they had to identify the cause and origin of Holyoke fires.

The investigators collaborated with the Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit and were led by Captain Michael Boucher. Examining fire scenes and collecting data to ascertain how fires originated were among their responsibilities. The appointments increased the number of qualified fire investigators in the department.