After the Navy I lucked out and got a job with the Campbell Fire Department - 2-years later I was working for San Jose Fire. I worked my way up through the ranks from firefighter to Captain. During my employment with SJFD I was assigned to the Arson Unit where I had further training at the FBI Academy and ATF Academy. All this law enforcement training inspired me to get my Private Investigators License, via the State of California.

I put that to use and started my company "Fire Cause Analysis" in 1980 and worked the business on my off days from the firehouse. I retired as a Captain in 1994.

Today my business has grown from a "one-man shop" to a small corporation. We are hired by, and work for, the claims side of the insurance industry and law firms. The majority of the work we do is to investigate and determine the origin and cause of fires. I have three great business partners and 28 wonderful employees. Our company motto is "we are only as good as the sum of our parts". We average over 30 fire investigations a week and I, or one of my investigators, often find ourselves on a plane taking us to areas of the world from Alaska to the South Pacific, Asia, and throughout the US. Check us out at www.fcafire.com !

Being 66, folks often ask why I still work? Well I'm blessed with good health, great friends and family (3 kids and 4-grandkids)and a great job that I really love. I look at my business as "Fun" and not "Work".

My wonderful wife Phyllis and I have been married for 26-years (yes, I was divorced at one time in my life) and live on a 2-acre parcel in the small community of Orangevale - above Sacramento (between Roseville and Folsom). I still work out swimming and biking but my real hobby is making wine! I have some 400 vines of wonderful Cabernet. This year we crushed enough grapes to produce 3- barrels of wine! - That's almost 1,000 bottles of wine - which reminds me to have another bottle as I write this! Ha - Not!!! Lets just say I have a lot of friends who enjoy my wine as well - I will be sure to bring down a few cases for the 50th reunion!!!

Hope to see you all in 2011 !

Take care - Don Perkins