John Lentini has been at the center of most of the important developments in fire investigation for the past 35 years. He began his career at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory in 1974. There he learned criminalistics in general and fire debris analysis in particular and received an introduction to fire scene investigation. He went into private practice in 1977 and spent the next 10 years examining 100 to 150 fire scenes per year, mostly for insurance companies that had doubts about the legitimacy of their insureds' fire losses. He later migrated to the field of subrogation and product liability related to accidental fires.

At the same time, he managed a fire debris analysis laboratory with a nationwide clientele. He has been at the center of the standardization of both laboratory and field investigations of fires. As Co-chair of the International Association of Arson Investigators' (IAAI) Forensic Science Committee, he was the principal author of the first laboratory standards published by the IAAI in 1988. He oversaw the acceptance of those standards by ASTM Committee E30 on Forensic Sciences, where he served for two terms as Chairman of the Criminalistics Subcommittee and for three terms as main committee Chairman. When the American Board of Criminalistics (ABC) was incorporated in 1993, he was the first civilian elected to the ABC Board of Directors. He served two terms on the board, was the principal organizer of the ABC Operations Manual, and served as the first editor of the ABC newsletter, Certification News. He was a coauthor of the first examination for the certification of fire debris analysts.

He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) and has served for many years in the leadership of the AAFS Criminalistics Section. Lentini has been a certified fire investigator since certification first became available in 1986, and was among the first group of individuals certified by the ABC as Fellows in fire debris analysis. He is one of the few individuals in the world who has held certifications for both laboratory and field work.

1. Fire and Science 2. The Chemistry and Physics of Combustion 3. Fire Dynamics and Fire Pattern Development 4. Fire Investigation Procedures 5. Analysis of Ignitable Liquid Residues 6. Evaluation of Ignition Sources 7. Some Practical Examples 8. The Mythology of Arson Investigation 9. Sources of Error in Fire Investigation 10. The Professional Practice of Fire Investigation