Assistant Fire Marshal

Purpose of the position:

The purpose of this position is to perform specialized inspections and educational activities on behalf of the County focusing on preventing educating about and detecting fire hazards as well as investigating the cause and origin of fires.

Minimum Education Training and/or Experience (required at time of hire): High school education or equivalent and a minimum three (3) years of experience in fire service investigation; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

License or Certification Required by Statute or Regulation:

• Possession of a valid drivers license issued by the State of North Carolina.
• Earn Level I Fire Inspection Certification within one (1) year and Level III within five (5) years as issued by the North Carolina Code Officials Qualification Board.
• Earn NC Fire Investigator Technician within 4 years and NC Fire/Arson Investigator within 10 years as issued by the North Carolina Department of Insurance Fire and Rescue Division.
• Maintain continuing education requirements as set forth by the State of North Carolina and the Fire Marshal. Any loss of certification may result in an appropriate reduction in pay and classification or may affect employment status.

Essential Functions of the Position:

• Conduct inspections of commercial structures and multi-family housing for both new construction and existing structures as scheduled and required county schools (twice annually) and private schools (annually); institutional structures foster homes and residential care homes to ensure compliance with fire and life safety regulations.
• Interpret County state and national fire codes related to fire prevention; review building plans to ensure proper fire safety measures are included such as sprinkler and fire alarm installation.
• Present public and private fire safety and prevention programs along with fire education programs as requested within the County.
• Enforce fire codes for new construction and existing buildings for the safety of occupants and public.
• Conduct origin and cause investigations and complete reports on structure and vehicle fires upon request; Respond to all brushfires with five or more fire departments dispatched assist with mitigation of large-scale hazmat incidents; respond to any request for emergency management response as needed.
• Inspect new subdivisions plats and drawings for emergency vehicle access; install and maintain all County road signs.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge Skills Abilities:

• Knowledge of North Carolina Fire Codes Foster Home Safety Regulations and AFL Regulations.
• Knowledge of the standard practices procedures and methods of fire inspection prevention and building construction.
• Knowledge of NCFIT CFI NC IAAI OFSM qualification board
• Knowledge of the geographic layout of the County.
• Knowledge of fire codes County state and federal fire regulations division policies procedures and protocols and the ability to oversee compliance.
• Ability to read and review building plans.
• Ability to make observations and remember faces names and various details.
• Ability to conduct investigations organize records and write reports.
• Ability to meet with and persuasively and effectively deal with property owners managers and the public to eliminate and prevent fire hazards and to stimulate interest and cooperation in fire prevention activities.
• Ability to apply interpretation of laws in specific situations.
• Ability to exercise sound judgement in routine and emergency situations.
• Ability to assist with management and recovery in the event of large emergencies.

In order to uphold internal pay parity and equity salaries are non-negotiable for new and current Buncombe County employees. All new employees are paid according to their years of relevant education and experience above minimum requirements for the position and employees have the opportunity to obtain pay increases via cost of living increases and promotions.

Buncombe County Government realizes the importance of a diverse professional workforce and the need to foster a responsive and innovative organizational culture one that fully engages all of our employees honoring and building on each employees unique experiences opinions and perspective.

It is the policy of Buncombe County to provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all persons regardless of race natural hair or hairstyles ethnicity creed color sex sexual orientation gender identity or expression national origin or ancestry marital or familial status pregnancy veteran status religious belief or non-belief age or disability or any other legally protected class under federal or NC State law. EEO practices and employment decisions regarding recruitment hiring assignment promotion and compensation shall not be based on any of these protected classes. In addition the County expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment or discrimination.