Former ATF special agent starts Monty Fire Investigations (+video)

Aug. 05--Doug Monty decided working for the government for a quarter-century was enough.

Now he's going to try working for himself with the new Monty Fire Investigations.

"I spent 25 years as an ATF special agent," Monty says of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"Twenty-five years with the government is a long time," he says, though he adds, "I had a great career."

One area of jurisdiction for the ATF is arson, and Monty had extensive training on arson investigations, including a two-year training program in which he became a certified fire investigator.

"The two years' training we go through is second to none," Monty says.

He says he had to work a minimum number of scenes in that time.

"You build on that training while you're on the job."

Monty says he's also had master-level courses in fire dynamics and has been certified by the International Association of Arson Investigators.

"I feel like I'm bringing quite a bit of experience to what I'm about to do," he says. "I got to do and see things that a lot of people never would."

He says he's been a supervisor for the past three years.

"I realized ... I should have stayed where I was at because I missed it tremendously."

Once a supervisor, Monty says, there are only two ways to go: Washington, D.C., or retirement.

"And I didn't want to go to Washington, D.C.," he says. "It was time to make a decision."

Monty is sending out marketing materials to law firms and insurance companies that often need an independent evaluation of a scene.

He says he plans to do business in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska and Colorado.

"I enjoy it," Monty says.

"There's something also about doing something for yourself," he says. "I just kind of wanted to do my own thing."

Reach Carrie Rengers at 316-268-6340 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @CarrieRengers.

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