SHERMAN, Texas (KTEN) — Grayson County appointed its first fire marshal in 2012.

Since the, the fire marshal's office has been under the authority of the sheriff's office. 

"One thing the fire marshal does is, he works very closely with the volunteer fire departments, which is a lot," said Chief Deputy Tony Bennie. "Our fire marshal is the one that does arson investigation; the sheriff's office doesn't have an arson investigator."

Bennie noted that Grayson County is the only county in Texas to have the fire marshal under the sheriff's office. 

So 11 years later, the fire marshal's office will now be separated from the sheriff's office. 

"We're still going to be working together," said Fire Marshal John Weda. "It's just coming more in compliance with state standards."

This change means Grayson County will now conform with the local government code.

"Basically, local government code governs a marshal's office; it gives the authority of the commissioners court to set up and create a fire marshal office," Weda said.

The new office has only two employees: The fire marshal and an assistant. But that could later change. 

"We're looking at adopting a fire code for the county in the future," Weda said. "If that takes place down the road, we're going to need more people in the office to help with the upcoming growth."