Hot Pursuit | A Fire Investigations True Crime Podcast

This week, we’re bringing you something special – a bonus episode that revisits one of our most gripping cases: ‘The Inside Job.’ But this time, we’re hearing it straight from the fire investigator who helped crack it wide open.

Retired Fire Investigator Bill Lackey takes us inside the investigation of a serial arsonist and burglar who targeted not just homes and businesses—but fire stations and firefighters themselves. With multipl...

This episode of the "Hot Pursuit" explores a complex arson and burglary case involving multiple agencies and jurisdictions. We bring back a crowd favorite, Irvine PD Officer Justin Russell, as he discusses a series of intentionally set fires in Orange County and beyond. Are these fires linked to burglaries at fire stations? The case highlights the challenges of multi-jurisdictional investigations and the importance of int...

This episode of Hot Pursuit features Investigator Gillespie, who has been with the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) since 2005 and in the Investigation Unit since 2019. Investigator Gillespie discusses two unique cases. The first case involves a fire at an auto shop in Garden Grove. The fire was initially reported as a commercial structure fire, but it was actually located in the parking lot and consisted of piles of cardboard. ...

This episode of Hot Pursuit features a case investigated by Investigator McCulloch with the Orange County Fire Authority. The incident took place in April 2022, around 3:00 a.m. in the morning, when a vehicle fire was reported in a Walmart parking lot in Lake Forest. The fire was initially reported as a commercial structure fire, but upon arrival it was in fact a vehicle fire. Firefighters from Engine 54 responded and found that th...

 This episode of Hot Pursuit features a special guest, Officer Justin Russell. Officer Russell was embedded with the Orange County Fire Authority Investigations Division for seven years. He worked as a liaison between the Investigations Unit and local law enforcement partners, helping to bridge the gap between the two agencies and build a successful model for collaboration.

This episode focuses on a case involving a vehicle fire tha...

Fire Investigator Shaun Miller joins Sophia and Scott to discuss a New Year’s Day arson case that was instrumental in the Orange County Fire Authority’s decision to get an accelerant detection K9. Initial reports were confusing, with conflicting information about possible victims. The Investigators discovered two separate points of origin for the fires, which immediately raised his suspicions. While investigating, Captain Miller wa...

Hosts Sophia Champieux and Scott Kuhlman introduce listeners to the Hot Pursuit podcast, a show that takes listeners behind the scenes of fire-related true crime cases of the Orange County Fire Authority Investigations Division. Fire Investigator Bill Strohm joins the hosts to explain how he became involved in the case and how he and other investigators initially believed the first three fires to be unrelated. Before the investigat...

Picking up where they left off in the last episode, hosts Sophia Champieux and Scott Kuhlman continue their discussion of the 73 Arson case with Fire Investigator Bill Strohm. Strohm details how the investigation expanded to include collaboration with federal agencies like the ATF and FBI, adding another layer of complexity to the already multi-jurisdictional case. The episode dives deeper into the challenges of tracking down an ar...