For Jeff Crede, the fire marshal for Butler County, law enforcement is in his blood.

His father, John, was a state trooper for 27 years, and moved his family from Natrona Heights to Butler when Jeff was 9 years old.

Today, Crede lives in Penn Township with his wife, Denise, and their children, Ryan, 12, and Taylor, 9.

"I was the alternate fire marshal starting in 1992 and went full time in 2000," said Crede.

He said a considerable amount of training goes into being a fire marshal. Crede, who has 21 years of fire service, has taken numerous classes at the State Fire Academy in Lewistown.

Some of the classes include arson investigation, advanced arson investigation, electrical, building construction and post blast investigation.

He also attended a two-week arson investigation course at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md.

Crede said when he arrives at a fire, he wants to talk with the fire chief to learn what happened.The fire chief can tell Crede important facts such as where in the house the fire was, how much of the house it burned, whether the doors or windows were locked and whether firefighters needed to force their way in.The chief can tell if firefighters found people at the fire scene.Next, Crede will initially size up the scene. Fire investigators use a thick book, the NFPA-921, which is known in the firefighting community as "The Bible," as a guide to their investigation."The Bible shows the investigator how to conduct the analytical part of processing the scene," Crede said. "We would be lost without it."His methodical and scientific investigation will start on the outside of the house and examine the least damaged areas to the most damaged on the outside of the house.Then he will go inside and do the same thing.

Crede said the fire chief actually works as his assistant at the scene of the fire. The chief will try to determine the cause of a blaze when the fire has been extinguished.If the chief can't make a determination, he will call Crede.Crede said he is involved in the training of fire chiefs, who in turn train the individual firefighters.He said fire companies can change chiefs on a yearly basis and it is important that a chief is properly trained to know what to look for.There are three full-time and three part-time fire marshals who all work together in the five-county troop that includes Butler County.Crede said he relies heavily on the fire chiefs and their crews, especially when digging through a fire scene looking for clues.He also works closely with police agencies, since they will be called in if a crime has been committed.Crede said private investigators hired by insurance companies can also provide valuable assistance.He said being a fire marshal is unusual because he is given the end result and works in reverse to figure out what happened.

"I like my job," he said. "It's challenging. Every day is something different, and I get to meet new people in law enforcement."As fire marshal, Crede investigated some of the larger fires in Butler County, including the Morgan Management Building in 2003.But, he said, sometimes it is not possible to determine the cause of a fire.He gave the example of an elderly woman who died last November in a fire in her Greenview Manor apartment.Crede said there were no cigarette butts or candles to suggest the woman had an open fire in her apartment, nor was there any indication she had been cooking at the time."It was hard because losing somebody in a fire is a traumatic experience," Crede said. "People look to you for answers and sometimes you just can't give them one."Crede, 45, earned an associate arts degree from Butler County Community College and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Indiana (Pa.) University.Starting in 1984, he worked for the Slippery Rock Borough Police Department before he joined the state police two years later. He also joined the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Department at the same time.Now he is the fire chief of the Penn Township Volunteer Fire Department.In June, he will celebrate his 18th anniversary at the Butler barracks of the state police.Crede said his wife worried a little more about his safety when he was on the road strictly as a police officer than she does now because of the uncertainty of many of the situations he encountered."She is more confident, now, since we take a lot of precautions," he said.Crede said some aspects of fire investigation have changed because of technology."Things are a lot more technical and structured now," he said. "You can't freelance as much today. We are able to get more on the money with our investigations (now) than we were able to 20 years ago."Crede said the fire marshal troop investigates about 200 fires a year in its five-county area, with about 50 of those in Butler County.