TOM POLERA
Mr. Tom Polera is a 45-year Public Safety professional. His extensive knowledge includes experience as an origin and cause investigator, an emergency manager and law enforcement fire marshal. He completed careers with Arlington County (VA) Fire and the City of Falls Church (VA) Police. He is a Certified Public Manager and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Safety.
Mr. Polera’s notable incidents including the 1982 Air Florida Crash, the Pentagon on 9/11 and as an ATF Task Force member in the investigation of the D.C. Serial Arson case in 2005. Mr. Polera currently serves as a Senior Investigator with the FirePoint Group, LLC.
ADAM ST. JOHN
Adam St. John has proudly supported ATF Arson Programs since graduating from the University of Maryland Department of Fire Protection Engineering in 2008. Adam is a licensed Professional Fire Protection Engineer, ATF Certified Fire Investigator, ATF Special Agent, and voting alternate member of the NFPA 921 Technical Committee. Adam has instructed on behalf of ATF on over 100 occasions, including international conferences in the fields of fire protection engineering and fire investigation. Adam has published peer reviewed professional fire research and has testified as an expert witness in criminal court on behalf of ATF.
Adam has produced multiple complex computer fire modeling forensic timelines featured by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. In recognition of his professional service, Adam has received the ATF Special Agent Life Saving Award for treating/transporting an officer struck by gunfire, as well as the statewide firefighting Outstanding Act of Heroism award on two separate occasions for fireground rescues. Adam spent approximately a decade at the ATF Fire Research Laboratory as Fire Protection Engineer/ATF National Response Team member prior to undertaking the ATF Special Agent/Certified Fire Investigator training program in 2018.
MIKE MATASSA
Mr. Matassa is a retired ATF Special Agent with a distinguished career in federal law enforcement spanning nearly three decades. A Pennsylvania native, Matassa earned his degree from Penn State before embarking on a lifelong commitment to public service.
His career began in 1980 as a Deputy U.S. Marshal in Los Angeles, where he served for three years before joining the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in 1983. Over the next 25 years, he worked in both Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., specializing in arson investigations and law enforcement operations.
A Certified Fire Investigator (CFI) since 1978, Matassa further honed his expertise with certifications in California (1989) and through ATF (1991). He played a pivotal role as a Special Agent in the Los Angeles Arson Task Force from 1987 to 1992, later rising to the position of Resident Agent in Charge from 2005 to 2008.
After retiring from the ATF in 2008, Matassa continued his work in federal investigations as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice. For 15 years, he specialized in money laundering and hidden asset identification, lending his expertise to ATF operations until 2023.
GRAHAM BURTONGraham is a criminal intelligence analyst with the Maryland Department of State Police and currently assigned to the Criminal Intelligence Section with the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center (MCAC).