Departments focus on fire safety, investigation, public outreach

Charged with serving the biggest county in Texas, Harris County Fire Marshal Mike Montgomery considers his role in the community a "dream job."

"It's our job to just be able to work with the community and citizens and come up with reasonable standards of fire and life safety," he said. "We investigate and prevent fires wherever we can and find out what causes those fires so we can prevent them. It's a really rewarding job."

He began working as fire marshal in 2002, and he boasts more than 25 years of fire experience under his belt. Montgomery began as a volunteer fire fighter with the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, similar to Montgomery County Fire Marshal Jimmy Williams. Williams was enthralled with fire fighting as a young adult, and after graduating from the Texas A&M Fire Academy in 1984 he worked for a department near Willis. After being recruited to the fire marshal's office in 1994, he was appointed Fire Marshal in 2004.

"I am still active in two fire departments," he said. "I work part time and volunteer as a fire fighter in New Waverly and North Montgomery County. It keeps it fresh for me, and I get to stay on the front line and work on a truck with other young fire fighters. The most important thing an old fire fighter can teach a young fire fighter is how to become an old fire fighter. It's all about safety."

The county fire marshal's office enforces codes in unincorporated areas of the county because the Cities of Magnolia and Tomball both have their own fire code. However, Williams and Montgomery still respond and assist municipal departments in fire investigations and response. Through public outreach and maintaining partnerships with city departments, the fire marshals work hard to keep their jurisdictions fire safe.

Jimmy Williams, Montgomery County

As fire marshal, what is your role in community?

Our primary role is to ensure public safety in commercial and public buildings, but we are a split department. Part of our department focuses on fire investigation and the other part on code enforcement in buildings. Looking at building safety, we examine needed safety systems. We respond to any complaints about safety issues in buildings and look at all new construction. On the investigation side, we investigate the cause of all structure fires and land fires if they are suspicious. All of our officers are peace officers and can make arrests if needed. We have made everything from simple misdemeanor arrests to capital murder arrests.

Are there any misconceptions the public may have about your office?

There are a couple of misconceptions. A lot of people don't even know what our office does, and most do not realize we are involved in both criminal investigations and code enforcement.

Those are two very different animals. From the code enforcement side, the biggest misconception people have is they look at us as the bad guys when it comes to safety. I call us the "fun police" because basically people see it as if there is something you want to do that is fun, the fire marshal's office won't let you do it. So we are the bad guys. When a code says you should do this, it's because someone has died or been seriously injured in that way. We don't want to shut anyone down; we just want the place to be safe. Most people also don't realize that the fire marshal's officers are police officers.

What is something the department is working on right now?

One goal we are working on in our region is pushing a regional code to make it the same across the Greater Houston Area through Galveston. One thing we have heard from developers and builders is they do not mind the codes, but they just want them to be consistent throughout an area. If you are building in Montgomery County, you're probably building in Harris County or Fort Bend County, and you do not want to have a different set of standards in each one. It just depends on what version of the fire code a municipality or county has adopted.

How does your department work with city fire departments?

In smaller cities where there is no municipal fire marshal, and the police department does not have an arson investigator, we go in and work for them. In fire response, we create a cause and origin report for the fire and if we determine it is a crime, we work for them to solve it. And we do that quite regularly. And that is the same way we work with school districts. We help out in a lot of different places especially if it is difficult to find a fire expert.

Mike Montgomery, Harris County

What is your favorite part of your job?

The cases that have impacted us the most are those working with foster parents. We work with them to help them meet the code requirements when they keep multiple children, and it's very rewarding. As a part of a licensing requirements, foster parents have to get fire inspections, especially if it is a group home where they are caring for a large number of children. It's very rewarding that I get to contribute to that process. On the fire investigation side, we had one memorable case that on all outward signs appeared to be a hate crime. Through some great investigative work from our team they identified it was an arson-for-profit case and were able to bring that home.

What has been your greatest accomplishment?

The greatest accomplishment of our office is being able to grow the fire marshal's office with a degree of professionalism while best serving the citizens of our community. There are three things that stick out to me. One was the adoption of our county fire code in 2005, which was the first fire code in Harris County's existence.

Second, the development of the county's hazardous materials response team. Now it has become the second busiest team in the Greater Houston Area. Third, I have to point it back to the staff. It's through the hard work of the investigators, inspectors, supervisors and chiefs who show up here every day and all they want to do is serve the community.

After more than 10 years as fire marshal, how has your office changed?

The biggest change in the region is just the unprecedented economic and population growth in the unincorporated areas. Just to be able to keep up with the growth is our biggest challenge and change. As we become more populated, people expect more urban-style services, so it is not just rural Harris County anymore. The other big change is the way county fire marshals in this area work very close together. Jimmy Williams and I have established a very good and close working relationship over the years.

How do you partner with municipal departments such as the Tomball Fire Department?

We work very closely with them. Even though cities have their own departments, we assist them whenever they need us. The fire marshal's office works very close with them to discuss trends and concerns to make sure we are all working well together. Tomball FD Chief Randy Parr and I knew each other when I was a volunteer fire fighter with Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, and we have worked together during emergencies, hurricanes and served on several committees together.