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February 6, 2010

New fire marshal doesn’t come into job cold

Rich Flowers The Athens Review

Athens — The new Henderson County Fire Marshal combed through the ashes left behind by many blazes in his career.

With experience as a firefighter, arson investigator and district attorney’s office investigator, James Darrell Furrh has looked through the cinders from many different angles. He believes that experience will be useful in his new position. Furr said the first thing the investigator looks for at the fire scene is some kind of accidental cause.

“That’s the primary goal, before moving to anything else,” Furrh said.

The investigator tries to determine the origin of the fire. If the remains reveal that the fire has been set, he then looks for evidence that the fire is of an incendiary nature.

Once the fire is determined to be arson, the case becomes somewhat like a regular criminal investigation, as authorities try to find out who is responsible for starting the blaze.

 “It’s a little bit different because it takes longer to determine if a crime has been committed,” Furrh said. “It’s not like when you have a homicide, and you have a dead body.”

Furrh said many have a misconception that all of the evidence is burned up in the fire, but that’s often not the case. The investigator just has to look a lot harder for it. Furrh estimates that the percentage of arson cases cleared is below many other types of crime.

“People who may know something about the fire, even about those who might have done it, can be reluctant to say anything, because they have to go to sleep at night,” Furrh said. “Also, people who go around starting fires tend to be pretty sneaky about it. I’m speaking in general terms.”

Furrh comes to Henderson County with the recent burnings of several east-Texas churches in the news. The year began with three fires in the Athens area within the first two weeks, then spread to Tyler, and most recently Wills Point. Furrh has lived in Van Zandt County for many years, and went to school in nearby Wills Point back in the 1960s. He said the fire at the Russell Memorial United Methodist Church was a great loss to the community.

Furrh’s office, and other authorities are investigating the church fires along with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. He said information to the news media concerning the investigations is generally being handled through the ATF.

Furrh steps into his new office after a year with John Holcomb at the helm. He said it appears that his predecessor left the office with it in good shape when he left in January to become fire marshal for the City of Forney.

“What I have found from the people I have talked with is this office is very efficient. It works very well. I don’t think I should come in, and make any changes without seeing it work,” Furrh said.

Furrh believes his time working with the Van Zandt and Kaufman County District Attorney’s Office will also be valuable in his fire marshal role.

“Law enforcement feels like, in general, they know what it takes to make an arrest. That’s not always all it takes to get a complete prosecution,” Furrh said.

When Furrh is not working a fire, he likes to spend time with his family on his Edgewood farm.

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