Hughes Boosts Forensic Services with the Acquisition of Forensic Engineering Firm, Kodiak Fire & Safety Consulting

Online, August 8, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Hughes Associates is pleased to announce the acquisition of Kodiak Fire Safety & Consulting, a leading fire and forensic investigative consulting firm based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This merger will boost Hughes renowned forensic science and engineering services practice. Principal Dr. Daniel Gottuk leads Hughes' forensic services and is excited about the merger with Kodiak. "Kodiak is a highly respected and talented group of engineers and investigators and we are looking forward to expanding our forensic services capabilities" said Dan Gottuk, adding that "Kodiak and Hughes have very complementary capabilities that will allow us to better serve our collective clients."

The experts at Kodiak offer forensic and litigation support for a variety of owners, operators and end-users. They coordinate with the interested parties to ensure that fire scenes and evidence are properly processed, documented and preserved according to nationally recognized standards. Kodiak are specialists in fire investigations, including origin and cause, electrical system/appliance analysis, farm equipment and detailed root cause analysis. They provide high quality, responsive investigations, management of small to large fire losses, accident investigations and product failure analysis.

Kodiak's excellent reputation has been developed over the past 18 years by Founder, Dan Churchward who has been involved in complex fire investigations, safety inspections and training since 1972. He chaired the NFPA 921 committee for over 12 years until 2009, overseeing substantial changes in the Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations. Leading the Kodiak office is Mr. Richard Vicars, an accomplished electrical engineer with design and failure analysis experience in commercial, consumer, aerospace, and medical device industries. His comprehensive private industry experience in designing and fielding products allows him to not only understand failures that occur in such products, but also know the engineering and manufacturing processes that broke down to create the initial problem.

Please join us in welcoming Kodiak to the Hughes family! Check out Kodiak's website www.kodiakconsulting.com for more information about their capabilities and service offerings.