By Janet Perry for the Argus-Courier
Petaluma’s new fire marshal, Amy Segui, grew up in Santa Rosa, where she became passionate about fire prevention after tragedy hit her hometown.
Segui was working at Humboldt State University in October 2017 when she received a harrowing call in the middle of the night. The hills were on fire near her parents’ home as the Tubbs Fire barreled its way towards them.
Ultimately, her parents were fine. But Segui didn’t hesitate.
“That next day I walked over to my local fire station, knocked on the door and told them I wanted to volunteer,” she said. “And that’s how I started in the fire service.”
As a volunteer firefighter she learned how to fight fires and drive the engines, and later she became an Emergency Medical Technician. She went on to work at the Humboldt Bay Fire Department and became their first community risk reduction specialist.
“That was a great opportunity for me to come up on the prevention side and really learn the trade,” Segui said.
After three years of working with Humboldt Bay, she returned to her roots in Sonoma County and became a fire inspector with the Petaluma Fire Prevention Bureau in October 2022. She quickly moved up the ranks to assistant fire marshal in May 2023.
Segui went on to urge the California State Board of Pharmacy in Sacramento to reconsider proposed regulations that would make glutathione, a drug that reduces toxins and carcinogens in the bodies of firefighters, prohibitively expensive.
Then, this August, she was promoted to fire marshal, replacing Jessica Power.
Segui said she is humbled by the promotion.
“It wasn’t something I was expecting this early in my career,” she said. “I’m really grateful for the support of my team here in the bureau, my overall team here at the fire department, my fire chiefs, the city, city manager and the city council.”
Segui said when most people think of the fire department they think of the people in fire engines responding to emergencies. But much of her work in fire prevention happens before a fire ever starts, and it is just as crucial in saving lives.
When fires do happen, and especially when there have been fatalities, investigations are extremely important in helping to understand what happened, and also to help those affected to deal with their pain.
“Investigating those is an opportunity to give closure and power back to the people who are left behind,” Segui said. “And really that’s what inspired me to get into the fire service, you know, after that phone call with my mom and seeing what my community had gone through down here during the Tubbs Fire. I wanted to be a part of taking that power back from something that can be so destructive.”
Segui said she hopes to strengthen her department’s connection with the community so that both residents and businesses alike see them not just as an enforcement agency, but as proactive, positive and helpful members of the community.
“Whether it’s understanding the codes for a remodel, helping to prepare your property for wildfire, giving a school presentation or making sure that you know all the things you need to know to launch your new business here in the city, we want to be a resource for you,” she said.
As fire marshal, Segui oversees local fire prevention programs and building and fire code compliance.
“We are responsible for all the fire inspections, post-fire investigations and public education,” she said. “Our goal really is to reduce that risk in the first place, protect those lives and safeguard property before an emergency even happens.”
Segui’s work includes reviews to make sure that new developments have the right size road widths to fit fire engines, a working sprinkler system, an alarm system and ways for everyone to get out in case of an emergency.
“It’s a lot of the background work that you don’t really notice when it’s done right,” she said. “You know, you don’t notice that wherever you are in a public building in Petaluma, you are within 75 feet of a fire extinguisher.”
She noted that most fires happen at home in the kitchen while someone is cooking.
“I always encourage people to take their fire extinguisher out from behind all the cleaning supplies under their kitchen sink, because I know that’s where we all keep it,” she said.
Segui explained that having a fire extinguisher mounted on a wall in the kitchen nearest to an exit point is the safest way to be ready to fight a fire quickly and safely exit. She said they only recommend using a fire extinguisher if the fire is no bigger than the size of a trash can.
“You can choose to engage with it and if it doesn’t work and you’re not able to put the fire out, then you still have your safe exit behind you,” she said.
Recently, Segui’s department was involved in the installation of smoke alarms through a partnership with the American Red Cross and Rebuilding Together.
“Smoke alarms really do save lives,” she said.
Sequi said it’s rewarding to know that there have been fires in the city that were extinguished because of a fire sprinkler system that they had required to be put in.
“A few years ago, at COTS over at the Mary Isaak Center, there was a fire in one of the tiny homes there, where the resident’s life was saved because of a fire sprinkler that we had required,” she said. “So we were really proud of that.”
Segui said that she feels truly honored to have been placed in this role, especially because she is now serving Petaluma.
“It’s a community that I’ve really grown to believe in,” she said. “I think it has a great team behind it and amazing residents.”
