PIKESVILLE — One of the youngest investigators joining the Office of the State Fire Marshal has been assigned to the Lower Eastern Regional Office, which consists of Dorchester, Wicomico, and Somerset counties.

Sierra Hawkins, 23, graduated from the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Academy in Sykesville on Aug. 30 and is the first non-lateral, sworn investigator welcomed in over three and a half years. She is also the first Black female to hold the Deputy State Fire Marshal position in the agency's 130-year history.

The Bowie resident is now in the field training program, which could take nearly six months before she investigates fires and explosions autonomously. She graduated from the University of New Haven with a major in Fire Science and a minor in English and interned with the Southern Regional Office in 2022.

"I am pleased to welcome DSFM Hawkins to our family, and on her career protecting the citizens from fire and explosions," said Chief Deputy and Acting State Fire Marshal Jason M. Mowbray.

"Over the past year, she has demonstrated her unwavering commitment to public safety and the law enforcement profession and completed a rigorous training curriculum at the Academy. I am confident she will continue to embody our agency's longstanding legacy of providing high quality, professional investigations and code enforcement to those we serve." 

Deputy State Fire Marshal Hawkins will continue her studies in fire, arson, and explosion investigations by attending numerous courses at the National Fire Academy, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, National Center for Explosives Training Center, the International Association of Arson Investigators, and National Association of Fire Investigators.