Lt. Brian Ferguson, 35, is one of Prince William County’s newest fire marshals. After spending more than eight years as an emergency medical technician for the county’s fire department, Ferguson decided to make a move to what he called the more “proactive” responsibilities of the fire marshals’ office. He then spent six months at a police academy working toward his law enforcement certification, a requirement for fire marshals. Today marks his third day as a fire marshal.
What inspired you to make the switch from being an EMT to a fire marshal?
It presented a new challenge outside the experience of riding up and down the street in a firetruck or ambulance. Being a fire marshal gets into the legal side of the fire department. It also gets into the proactive side of the fire profession, protecting the community and firefighters by preventing fires.
How are fire marshals proactive?
We’re looking for hazards that might lead to fires. We make sure fire suppression systems — sprinkler systems — are built to code and are able to keep a fire small so people can escape and firefighters have a smaller fire to fight.
Do you miss being on the street?
It has been just six months, but I do miss the hands-on aspect of emergency medical care. I enjoyed treating patients and the one-on-one nature of it.
Is it exciting to be doing something different?
One of the great things about being in a fire department is that you can change jobs multiple times without ever leaving the career. Firefighting is different from being in an ambulance; dispatch is different from teaching at an academy.
Becoming a fire marshal was like entering a separate world. The opportunity to develop new skills, find new challenges and always meet new people is one of the things that attracted me to the fire department.
What path did you follow to your current job?
I started out in wilderness search and rescue near Virginia Tech and gained EMT training. Meanwhile, I was a volunteer rescue squad and then moved to that full time.
