Our Consultants

Patrick J. McGinley

pat@mcginleyassociates.com / vCard

Patrick J. McGinley is the founder and chairman of McGinley Associates. Pat spent 20 years in the Philadelphia Fire Department. He started as a firefighter and was promoted through the years. At the time of his retirement from the Department in 1984, Pat had achieved the rank of Deputy Chief, the highest ranking civil servant in Philadelphia.

Pat served as the Fire Marshal for the City of Philadelphia for 4 years. In this position, he was responsible for commanding, directing, and supervising the investigation of the cause, origin and circumstances of every fire in the City of Philadelphia involving loss of life, personal injury or property damage. As Fire Marshal, Pat also chaired the Board of Safety in Philadelphia and oversaw the writing and implementation of the Philadelphia Fire Code.

Pat has personally investigated and/or supervised the investigation of over 4,000 fire incidents. He has testified in state and federal courts throughout the United States and Canada. He has also conducted numerous seminars and taught at the college level.

Patrick J. McGinley, III

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Patrick J. McGinley, III is the President of McGinley Associates. Patrick worked eleven (11) years in the career fire service as a Deputy Fire Marshal in Camden County, New Jersey. He also served as a volunteer firefighter with the Westmont Fire Company from 1996 to 2008. As a Deputy Fire Marshal, Patrick's primary responsibility was conducting scene investigations to determine the area of origin and cause of fires. During his time with the Fire Investigation Unit, Patrick participated in the investigation of over 1,500 fires. He was also responsible for county-wide fire suppression, fire instruction, fire inspections, code enforcement, and code interpretation.

Patrick earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Saint Joseph's University. He is currently an adjunct professor at Camden County College in New Jersey, where he teaches the Fire Investigation course and the Arson Law and Court Procedures course.

Patrick has received multiple awards and commendations relating to his firefighting and fire investigation work. He has been nationally certified as a Fire and Explosion Investigator (C.F.E.I.) by the National Association of Fire Investigators, and he is a member of numerous professional organizations.

Louis H. Gahagan

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Louis H. Gahagan has been with McGinley Associates since 1987. Prior to that, he served as a Lieutenant in the Philadelphia Fire Department. In addition, for 5 years, he was an Assistant Fire Marshal for the City of Philadelphia. In that role, his responsibilities included investigating the cause, origin, and circumstances of multi-alarm, fire related death and severe fire incidents occurring in the City of Philadelphia.

Lou has an Associates Degree from the Community College of Philadelphia in Fire Science. He has taken numerous specialized training courses and taught many fire investigation seminars and/or courses.

Lou is a member of various professional organizations.

Alfred John Fry

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A 1973 graduate of LaSalle College, John has been with McGinley Associates since 1985. He enjoyed a 34 year career with the Philadelphia Fire Department, retiring at the rank of Battalion Chief. John has extensive experience in fire department operations and fire scene investigations. He also has more than 2 decades of teaching experience, having been an instructor of various Fire Science courses at several area colleges and has instructed Philadelphia Fire Department personnel in Fire Investigative procedures for many years. As a former Assistant Fire Marshal, his responsibilities included the investigation of multi-alarm fires, fires involving personnel injury or death as well as arson related fires.

John received a Fire Investigator certification in 1998 from The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and is a member of various professional organizations.

David B. Wallace CFI, CFEI

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Dave has been with McGinley Associates since 2018. Dave brings 34 years of experience in fire service with him in addition to being a Lieutenant in the Borough of Collingswood Police Department. He has served16 years in the Westmont, NJ Fire Company and 12 years in the Collingswood, NJ Fire Company. He served 3 years in the Camden County NJ Fire Marshall’s/Prosecutor’s Office and has held private sector positions.

Dave is a certified investigator by the IAAI, and instructor at the Camden County Fire Academy, and an Adjunct professor in Fire Science at Camden County College. He has earned a BS in Fire, Arson, and Explosion in 2016 from Eastern Kentucky University as well as a degree in Business Administration in 2007 from University of Phoenix. Dave has many years of training certifications and has received several awards in his career.