ATF Deploys Resources to Alabama Church Fires.

CENTERVILLE, Ala., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Special agents, forensic chemists and a fire protection engineer from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) gathered here today to help in the investigation of six fires that destroyed three churches in Bibb County, Ala., and damaged three others in Bibb and Chilton County.

There were no injuries in the any of the fires, which occurred yesterday at a Holiness denomination church in Chilton County and early this morning at five Baptist churches in Bibb County. Investigators from ATF, the Alabama State Fire Marshal's Office, Alabama Bureau of Investigation, Bibb County Sheriff's Office, Centerville Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation did not immediately place a figure on the amount of damages.

ATF deployed at least 40 special agents, many of them certified fire investigators, from its Nashville and New Orleans field divisions and National Response Team (NRT) to investigate the fires, as well as two chemists from the ATF laboratory in Atlanta and a fire protection engineer from its Fire Research Laboratory in Maryland. ATF has two arson and bomb trucks on the scene and the NRT truck was expected to arrive tomorrow.

"The way to solve these cases is to put experts and resources on the scene and conduct an aggressive investigation," said ATF Nashville Special Agent in Charge James Cavanaugh. "Church fires have a special impact on the communities where they're located and whoever is responsible for these blazes has no respect for any symbols of good."

ATF's National Response Team (NRT) has brought definitive expertise and an array of state-of-the-art equipment to the investigation of major fire and explosives incidents since 1978. Four regional components that comprise the NRT are organized geographically to cover the United States. Each team can ...