Three Charlotte Fire Department investigators hold the top three leadership posts in what their president calls the largest chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI) worldwide.

John Bull serves as president, Patrick Barker as first vice president and Jason Boggs as second vice president of the North Carolina IAAI chapter, according to a profile published by the city of Charlotte. All three work on Charlotte Fire's Fire Investigation Task Force, the same unit that responded to Ballantyne-area structure fires in September and October, including incidents on the 8400 block of Tifton Road on Sept. 3 and the 2700 block of Old Ironside Drive on Saturday, Oct. 3.

The North Carolina chapter is the largest of roughly 75 IAAI chapters worldwide, Bull said in the city profile. The NC IAAI counts more than 800 members drawn from fire service, law enforcement, insurance and legal fields. It was chartered in 1976.

Bull, a fire and explosion investigator on C shift, has worked in the field for more than 30 years. He spent much of his career in the private sector and retired as an investigator with North Carolina Farm Bureau before joining Charlotte Fire. He is scheduled to teach fire investigation internationally in Dubai later in 2026.

Barker brings roughly two decades of experience. He earned degrees in fire science and fire investigation, completed an internship with the West Virginia State Fire Marshal's Office and spent 11 years investigating fires in the private insurance industry before coming to Charlotte. He pointed to lithium-ion batteries as one emerging challenge investigators increasingly face, both in determining fire causes and in training the next generation.

Boggs, a senior fire investigator who joined Charlotte Fire in 2018, traces his interest in the field to an early encounter at the Hickory Fire Department. About six months out of recruit school, he responded to an apartment fire and met a woman who told him she had set it during a domestic dispute.

"I still enjoy seeking the truth and trying to figure out why someone has set a fire," Boggs said in the city profile.

Bull said educating fire investigators across North Carolina remains one of the chapter's largest responsibilities, with some members also teaching nationally and internationally. The NC IAAI chapter's next annual meeting is scheduled for October, according to the IAAI's chapters directory.