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A fire marshal, in the United States and Canada, is often a member of a fire department but may be part of a building department or a separate department altogether. Fire marshal's duties vary but usually include fire code enforcement and/or investigating fires for origin and cause. Fire marshals may be sworn law-enforcement officers and are often experienced firefighters.

A "no smoking" sign at a gas station by order of the state fire marshal. The fire marshal is often charged with enforcing fire-related laws.

A fire marshal's duties vary by location. Fire marshals may carry a weapon, wear a badge, and make arrests pertaining to arson and related offenses, or, in other localities, may have duties entirely separate from law enforcement, including building- and fire-code-related inspections. In many states and provinces, the fire marshal is responsible for enforcing laws concerning flammable materials.

The US definition of a fire marshal should not be confused with that of the UK. Fire marshals, sometimes known as fire wardens in the UK, are civilians trained to assist in fire safety procedures at businesses and other organizations, usually employees.^[1]. However, UK fire and rescue services - FRS - do provide fire marshal training, aimed at fire prevention.

In the UK, the senior fire officer is responsible for firefighting operations, and cases of arson are investigated by the police. No UK FRS has fire officers with powers of arrest, although some FRS do have their own specialist fire investigation teams, who act as expert witnesses.

Also in the UK Fire Inspecting officers (Fire Safety Officers) enforce legislative fire safety law, and whilst they are unable to make an arrest they can place subjects under caution and prosecute anyone who has failed to comply with fire safety laws. They also have the authority to close unsafe premises and investigate any actual perceived fire safety offence.

Like most states, Californian Fire marshals are typically associated with a city or region's local fire department. Yet, California has two additional authorities that hold the official designations of Fire Marshal. Cal Fire is the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It is tasked with the building code enforcement of all structures and occupancies within the state. They have the authority to issue building permits, conduct building inspections and investigate code violations. Cal Fire officials also have the police authority of a peace officer.

The second authority designated as Fire Marshals is the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development ( OSHPD ) who is the state building official for all California Hospitals. They are tasked with the structural, electrical and fire/life safety reliability of all hospital construction in the state. This responsibility is paramount in California, due to the frequency and intensity of earthquake seismic activity it experiences.

New York City's Bureau of Fire Investigation, part of the FDNY has about 100 fire marshals and 40 supervising fire marshals. The marshals work in pairs and investigate serious fires. In a typical year they are assigned about 4,000 fires within the five boroughs of the city.

The city's first fire marshal, George H. Sheldon, was appointed in 1873, eight years after the reorganization of the fire department into a career department in 1865. Robert O. Lowery became the first African-American fire marshal in 1946. Lowery would ultimately rise to the top of the department, being appointed the city's fire commissioner in 1965.

Fire marshals have conducted a number of important investigations, including the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. They also work with federal, state and local law enforcement because arsonists are frequently involved in other criminal activity as well, and some investigations, like the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, require multiple agencies' skills.

No fire marshal had ever died in the line of duty until September 11, 2001 when Marshals Ronald Paul Bucca and James Devery rushed into the World Trade Center to assist fire victims — and get a head start on the investigation. (They had worked on the 1993 investigation at the same site.) Devery led a wounded woman to safety, but Bucca died.