Maryland State Fire Marshal

Office of the State Fire Marshal
Abbreviation	OSFM
Logo of the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
Agency overview
Formed	1894
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction*	State of Maryland, United States
Legal jurisdiction	State of Maryland
General nature	Law enforcement Civilian agency
Operational structure
Headquarters	Pikesville, Maryland
Agency executive	William E. Barnard, State Fire Marshal
Parent agency	Department of State Police
Facilities
Regional Offices	6 Western Metro Northeast Southern Upper Eastern Lower Eastern
Website
State Fire Marshal
Footnotes
* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

The Maryland Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) actively works in 17 of 23 Maryland counties. It works under the Department of State Police. The mission of the OSFM is "the protection of life and property from fire and explosion through the efforts of a diverse, highly trained and dedicated staff in partnership with other public safety agencies and the community. This is accomplished through aggressive criminal investigation of fire and explosive incidents, quality fire protection engineering services, enforcement of the State Fire Prevention Code, data collection and analysis, and public fire safety education."^[1] The State Fire Marshal shall appoint Assistant State Fire Marshals, Special Assistant State Fire Marshals, and Deputy State Fire Marshals as he/she deems appropriate.

Duties

Per the Maryland State Public Safety Article, Title 6, Sub-title 3, section 05, the State Fire Marshal shall enforce all laws and statutes of the state of Maryland that relate to the following:

• the prevention of fire.
• the storage, sale, and usage of explosives, combustibles, or other dangerous articles, in solid, liquid, or gaseous form.
• the installation and maintenance of all kinds of equipment intended to control, detect, or extinguish fire.
• the means and adequacy of exit, in case of fire, from buildings and all other places in which individuals work, live, or congregate, except buildings that are used solely as dwelling houses for no more than two families.
• the suppression of arson and the regulations adopted by the Commission under Subtitle 2 of this title.

Qualifications

The State Fire Marshal shall be appointed by the Secretary from a list of three candidates given by the Commission.

(Per § 6-302. State Fire Marshal.) The appointed Maryland State Fire Marshal shall minimally have the following:

• a degree from an accredited college or university.
• have 5 years of recent progressively responsible experience, at least 3 years of which shall have been at the administrative level, in fire prevention inspection, fire investigation, fire safety promotion, fire protection engineering, fire fighting, or teaching fire safety engineering.

See also

	Maryland portal
	Law enforcement/Law enforcement topics portal

• List of law enforcement agencies in Maryland

References

1. ^ Maryland State Fire Marshal

External links

• Maryland Office of the State Fire Marshal homepage