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The City of Forney has hired John Holcomb, a native of Mabank, as the city’s official fire marshal.
Holcomb, who began his duties in Forney January 11, comes from Henderson County, where he served as fire marshal for a year.
Holcomb began his professional career as a volunteer fire marshal in Mabank in 1996. He took a paid position as fire marshal in Mabank in 1999 and continued in that position until he went to work in Henderson County in January 2009.
As Forney’s fire marshal, Holcomb is answerable directly to the fire chief.
One of Holcomb’s responsibilities is to investigate all fires that occur within the city limits—their cause and origin.
“If I determine that the cause is criminal, I’ll file an arson case on the individual,” he said. He added that there are times when fires point to insurance fraud—for example, when the owner of a building has it burned down deliberately in order to collect an insurance payment. In a case like that, Holcomb has authority to file an insurance fraud case against the property owner and an arson case against the individual the owner paid to set the fire.
*See the January 28, 2010 issue of the Forney Messenger for entire story.
