County welcomes new fire marshal

Hays County has a new Fire Marshal. Steve Seddig has 28 years of service with the city of Wylie Fire Rescue where he served as a Fire Marshal, Division Chief and Texas Peace Officer. He is a certified Texas Master Fire Investigator and an International Association of Arson Investigators Certified Fire Investigator.

“When I started I was a volunteer,” Seddig said. “I got interested in firefighting and went to the Fire Academy in ‘93. And after graduating [from] the Fire Academy, I got the opportunity to be a part time firefighter at Wylie. I was fortunate enough to go full time in ‘96. … In ‘99 I went to the Police Academy and shifted to a full-time 40-hour week [doing] code enforcement, fire investigation, stuff like that, for the city of Wylie and worked my way into the Fire Marshal position.”

Seddig is the president elected of the Collin County Fire & Arson Investigators Association. He was a key figure in bringing to Texas one of the two annual fire death investigation courses in the country that uses body donations.

“I started with the University of North Texas Forensic Anthropology Department up in Collin County where we created a course that basically was [meant] to train people on how to collect skeletal remains,” Seddig said. “During that time, I was working with the Forensic Anthropology folks and learning about how to collect skeletal remains, excavation and more of the archeology department of anthropology. I’ve always been interested in that. I’m going on 12 years, and we’ve been doing a class the last five years with Texas State University.”

Seddig is also a masters level student at the Texas State University Forensic Anthropology Department, conducting research on donated bodies at the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility, which will provide insight into the ways that time, temperature, fire environment, body mass and decomposition contribute to observed differences in burn patterns and skeletal destruction in structural and vehicle fires. He said the Hays County Fire Marshal position was a perfect fit, because he could continue his masters and he loves the area.

“Dr. Wescott, the director of the [TXST Forensic Anthropology] program — we had submitted an NIJ grant and were approved,” Seddig said. “The NIJ [National Institute of Justice] awarded a $1,087,000 grant over the next three years … [in which] the end result will be a process, hopefully, to process skeletal remains.”

According to the NIJ website, through this research project, protocols will be developed for anthropologists for the documentation and analysis of burned human bone. The knowledge gained from this project will help guide and inform policy and practices associated with fire death investigations. It will also lead to a structured training course and performance standards that can be used by fire departments, crime scene investigators and other forensic scientists for proficiency training and testing.

“One of the big things that we’ve been doing every year with the course is data collection. The form of data collection that we do is in the form of heat collection. We use thermocouples throughout all of the fire scenes that we create, so for the next three years we’re going to have seven fire scenes: for example, five room fires and two car fires. And that’s what the study is going to be based on is those types of fires with those kinds of control measures. And again, we’re going to collect heat data, heat flux data throughout the scenes both ambient and on the bodies,” Seddig said. “$150,000 of that [grant] is just thermocouples. Our next biggest measurable is we’re getting a $150,000 laser scanner. So that data collection is going to start happening with the course, so we’ll be able to do it before and after and start getting really technical and precise data on the before and after effects.”

Seddig said as the Hays County Fire Marshal he’s hoping to provide good service and help prepare for upcoming development and improve some of the processes. He said Wylie experienced a huge amount of growth in his time there, so he can apply his experience locally.

Hays County Officials are glad to add Seddig to the team.

“As the Office of Emergency Services director, the department and I are extremely excited to add Steve Seddig to our staff,” Hays County Director of Emergency Services Mike Jones said. “He will be an excellent resource and brings a host of knowledge and experience to the fastest growing county of our size in the nation.”

Under Texas law, the Fire Marshal’s Office is responsible for the protection of life and property through code enforcement, plans review, fire inspections and fire cause determination.

“I’m excited to serve my coworkers and citizens of Hays County. The interview process gave me a chance to meet the leadership, Emergency Services District fire chiefs we serve and cohorts,” Seddig said. “During this process, my knowledge of Hays County increased, as well as the challenges we face by the pace of growth. I’m looking forward to being a part of this organization and community.”

Seddig officially began as the Hays County fire marshal on March 26.