100 Years of Serving Texas: The State Fire Marshal's Office, 1910-2010
No one alive today remembers what life was like before the State Fire Marshal’s Office was founded in 1910. The world was a violent, painful and tragic place back then. The sad truth is that many people died needlessly, from bad judgment, inattention, preventable accidents: the kinds of risky behavior that initiatives like “Have an EXIT Strategy,” “Risk Watch” and “Remembering When” aim to correct.
Death came in a variety of ways. All too often it was fire-related. Occasionally it was inevitable, but all too often it was preventable. Unsafe fire practices abounded. Most of the safety measures we take for granted today did not exist then or were not practiced.
Fires still kill people and animals and destroy property every day across the country, but not on the scale experienced in the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as in Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, New York City, and San Francisco, to name but a few.
The creation of the position of Texas State Fire Marshal and State Fire Marshal’s Office by the 31st Legislature in 1910, reflected the larger, national “progressive,” or “populist” movement and was meant to reduce fire losses and also to better control and regulate fire insurance companies.
At that time, it was estimated that 50 percent of fire waste in Texas was attributable to incendiary origin, yet there was not a single prisoner in the Texas Penitentiary system convicted of arson. Under the new law, the state fire marshal would have the authority to ascertain the causes of fires throughout the state.
Read/download the history of the State Fire Marshal's Office.
In 1917 the Texas Legislature gave the SFMO Fire/Arson Investigation Authority. This amendment to the fire insurance law enlarged the power and authority of the State Fire Marshal and permitted him to assist actively the district attorneys in the prosecution of persons charged with arson. Beginning in 1931, the SFMO began a policy of vigorous investigation of fires of incendiary (suspicious) origin, commonly known as “profit” fires. Between 1931 and 1936, there were 635 indictments with 210 convictions, and these prosecutions had been perhaps the controlling features in the state’s fire loss reduction from $17.56 million annually to $7.725 million.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office has been working with state primary schools, universities and colleges practically since the day it was founded on fire safety issues, including campus fire safety and fire safety education from Pre-K through colleges and universities, most recently through the "Have An EXIT Strategy" initiative which urges Texans to learn two ways out of wherever they might be: their own kitchen or bedroom, office or shop at work, a night club or movie theater, or any other locale. Find out more about the initiative at www.haveanexitstrategy.com.
How much progress have we made during our first 100 years?
Reports by the state fire marshal covering the years 1911-1915 showed that between 11,000 and 13,000 structural and outdoor fires each year, entailing annual losses between $12,000,000 and $16,000,000, had occurred in Texas. The per capita fire loss in this state was about $4, or $20 for the average family, within this short period. Many leading European nations had a per capita fire loss of less than 50 cents (Holland had a loss of only 11 cents per capita per year), during the same period.
In 2008, (latest available statistics), property losses from a reported nearly 81,000 structural and outdoor fires amounted to losses of $486,000,000, or about $20 per capita, a significantly lower dollar loss than the period 1911- 1915, taking into account inflation ($1 in 1910 is worth $24 today) and the state's population increase, from approximately 4,000,000 in 1915 to approximately 25,000,000 in 2010.
Even more important than property losses is the loss of human life. Approximately 450 lives in Texas were lost each year from 1931 to 1936 (the earliest known statistics), and improper use of kerosene and gasoline were the leading causes of such deaths. In 2008 (latest available statistics), 181 Texas civilians lost their lives (82 attributable to unknown causes and only 5 to open flame).
While significant progress has been made in the last 100 years, much remains to be done.
What does the future hold? Much the same as it has. Fire will continue to occur, despite our best efforts. Hopefully, the numbers and severity of those fires will decrease, as well as injuries and fatalities. Suspicious fires will still need investigating, and buildings will need fire safety inspections. And fire safety education will never end, as long as babies continue to be born. Fire safety is not instinctive. Humans are not born with an innate sense of fire safety; they must be taught it, generation after generation. The fine details may change, but not the big picture.
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Last updated: 02/18/2011
