Find an expert

Mr. Bales is a volunteer firefighter and past Chief with 41 years of experience with the Gardiner Fire Department and currently serves on the Board of Directors and as Commissioner for the Gardiner Fire District. Mr. Bales is also a charter and current member of the Ulster County Fire Investigation Unit serving 37 years and investigating over 1,600 fires. While on the Fire Investigation Unit he served as Chief Fire Investigator managing the investigators and investigating a wide variety of fires. Mr. Bales has a thorough knowledge of motor vehicles having worked as a technician and service management over 32 years with GM and Chrysler Corporations. Mr. Bales is also a member of the New York State Fire Investigators having served as Vice President and is currently a member and Sergeant at Arms of the International Association of Arson Investigators.

 Mr. Bales has been employed as a fire investigator with Unified Investigations and Sciences full time since 2005. In his time with UIS he has investigated over 1,100 assignments involving structural fires, vehicle and heavy equipment fires, accidents, and failure analysis and also several marine fires. He has worked many large loss scenes over the years as well as multi-million dollar long term investigations. He is asbestos operations and maintenance licensed and HAZWOPER certified enabling him to work on those losses.

 Mr. Bales is an International Certified Fire Investigator with Motor Vehicle Endorsement through the International Association of Arson Investigators and National Pro Board Certified. He has extensive training in the automotive industry and investigation of vehicle fire and failure analysis. He has also worked on accident investigations involving mechanical failure of components. In addition he has worked on numerous logging industry machines, tractor cabs and trailers as well as other forms of transportation.