ATF National Response Team Activated to Investigate Sammy's Woodfired Pizza

SAN DIEGO, July 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Response Team (NRT)
from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) along with
ATF special agents from the Los Angeles Field Division have entered the
investigation of an explosion and fire that occurred July 29 at Sammy's
Woodfired Pizza, located in Carlsbad, Calif.

John A. Torres, special agent in charge of ATF's Los Angeles Field Division,
said, "ATF's National Response Team was just here three months ago working
side by side with members of the Los Angeles City Fire Department on the
Basque Night Club fire investigation. They are here again because our local
counterparts, the Carlsbad Fire Department, know that we have a lot of unique
tools we can bring to the investigation. ATF values the cooperation we have
with the Carlsbad Fire Department in this joint investigation."

ATF's NRT, which arrived on the scene today, 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, organized
geographically to cover the United States, comprise the NRT. The team can
respond within 24 hours to work with state and local law enforcement or fire
service personnel in onsite investigations.

The responding NRT component normally has 13-18 members, including veteran
special agents who have post-blast and fire origin-and-cause expertise;
forensic chemists; explosives enforcement officers; fire protection engineers;
accelerant detection canines; explosives detection canines; and intelligence,
computer forensic and audit support. A fleet of fully equipped response
vehicles strategically located throughout the United States provides
logistical support.

ATF's partnership with federal, state and local officers is vital to the most
effective processing efforts at an explosives or fire scene. The NRT
capitalizes on that by working alongside its partners in reconstructing the
scene, identifying the seat of the blast or the origin of the fire, conducting
interviews and sifting through debris to obtain evidence related to the
explosion or fire.

In addition to investigating hundreds of large fire and explosives scenes, the
NRT was deployed for the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, the Olympics
and other major sporting events in the United States, presidential
inaugurations and the national political conventions, and major international
conferences.

This is the 18th NRT activation in fiscal year 2008, and the 657th since the
program began in 1978.

ATF is the federal agency with jurisdiction for investigating fires and crimes
of arson. More information on ATF can be found at www.atf.gov.

Contact: Elaine Kwong, PIO
Office: (818) 265-2507
Cell: (213) 925-4547

SOURCE Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Elaine Kwong, PIO, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,
Office: +1-818-265-2507, Cell: +1-213-925-4547