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Mr. Preyer. Our next witness is Mr. Daniel Luczak, an engineer and firo investigator. Mr. Luczak was commissioned to do a study for the insurance company that covered the air-conditioning contractor who was working in building A when the fire broke out. He appears under subpena.
I will ask you if you will be sworn, Mr. Luczak.
Do you solemnly swear that the evidence you shall give to this subcommittee shall be the truth, the wliole truth, and nothing but the trutli, so help 3'ou God ?
Mr. Luczak. I do.
Mr. Preyer. Thank you.
Did I pronounce your name properly ?
Mr. Luczak. After a couple of years in the military, Mr. Chairman, I nod in any direction, but that was a very good pronunciation.
Mr. Preyer. Feel free to summarize your statement, or proceed in any way you wish.
STATEMENT OF DANIEL W. LUCZAK, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE ENGINEER, CADCOM DIVISION, MANTECH OF NEW JERSEY CORP., ANNAPOLIS, MD.
Mr. Luczak. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I am a senior investigative engineer in the Safety Engineering Directorate of Cadcom, a division of ManTech of New jersey Corp. My division's offices are located in Annapolis, Md.
In brief, the safety engineering directorate offers engineering investigation and analysis services to insurance companies, attorneys, manufacturei-s, and utilities in the area of loss and failure analysis. Our primary responsibility to our clients is to investigate and analyze accidents and losses and to present unbiased conclusions and opinions based on the engineering and scientific facts available.
On December 18, 1978, Cadcom was requested by Reliance Insurance Co. to investigate a fire that occurred at approximately 12 :10 p.m. on December 7, 1978, at the Suitland Federal Center — the topic under discussion here today.
It was requested that Cadcom investigate and photodocument the remains of the fire scene at building A, review the Prince Georges County Fire Department's reports, inspect the Kocharian Bros.' electric drill and work accomplished to determine their potential complicity as a causal agent of the fire, and to provide an independent opinion as to what was the most probable cause of the subject fire.
Our investigation began on December 20, 1978, with an onsite insiDection and a subsequent series of laboratory tests conducted on the electric drill that was being used by the Kocharian employees on the morning of the fire.
On January 2, 1979, I interviewed Mr. Edward Kocharian, and Mr. Winston R. Thorne, Jr., the Kocharian Brothers' foreman at building A on the day of the incident, and conducted an inspection and photodocumentation of tlie building. I also reviewed the Prince Georges Fire Department's reports and researched the available literature on cellulose nitrate film as a means of reconstructing the incident.