(A) As allowed by applicable law, the City Council and/or any effective Joint Powers Board may by resolution establish fees for fire protection service and/or emergency response which are not otherwise specified by contract. Said fees may be established at a fixed rate for certain specific types of incidents or for actual costs incurred by the Fire and Rescue Department in responding to a call for service.
(B) The Fire Chief and Rescue Captain shall make a recommendation annually to the City Council for approval, the fee to be charged for each service fee noted in this section, and such fees shall be specified in the city’s fee schedule.
(1) Chemical/hazardous materials spills. Fees incurred by the city for response to chemical spills on roadways and at fixed private facilities within the city or in other cities that personnel and equipment from the city may be requested to respond, will be charged to the owner of the chemical, the owner of the vehicle in which the chemical is being shipped, and/or to the owner of the facility where the spill occurred.
(a) Fees shall include, but shall not be limited to, actual costs for all personnel who respond to the incident for a minimum of one hour and the cost on a per hour basis for each piece of city or joint powers agreement member apparatus and equipment that responds to the incident for a minimum of one hour. Vehicle and equipment costs shall conform to the most recent cost schedules published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for disaster recovery or in the event a piece of equipment is not listed on the schedule, it shall be billed at a reasonable rate to be determined by the city or Joint Powers Board using industry standards. Fees may also include actual costs for personnel and equipment necessary to respond to fire alarms and false fire and emergency service calls.
(b) In addition, the bill for service shall include any cost of clean-up of any contaminated equipment and/or repair of any equipment damaged during the incident or its replacement along with replacement of any disposable equipment, supplies, and/or communication equipment and administrative costs to be established at 10% of the total bill.
(c) Each owner of the premises receiving Fire and Rescue Department service for a hazardous materials spill shall be deemed to have agreed to pay for said services and any delinquencies in the payment for the Fire and Rescue Department service to said premises shall be a lien and charged against the premises so served, regardless of whether the same be a homestead or not.
(2) Wildland fires. At the discretion of the Fire Chief and Rescue Captain, fees may be charged to the State Department of Natural Resources for services provided for incidents under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Natural Resources.
(3) Arson accidents due to gross negligence. Fees for services provided for incidents caused by arson or by gross negligence will be charged to the perpetrator(s) of the incident.
(4) Motor vehicle accidents. Any party who receives fire service involving a motor vehicle accident or motor vehicle fire will pay for such fire service according to the schedule referenced in division (B) above. Fire and rescue calls resulting from vehicular accidents on state and county highways to the extent services are provided to non-resident individuals or businesses of the City Fire and Rescue Department’s area of service will be charged to the non-resident individual or business.
(5) Impounding vehicles/property. The Fire Chief and Rescue Captain, or their designate, is authorized to impound vehicles or property related to a fire and/or hazardous materials release and to be held in a secure location until such time as payment is received for Fire and Rescue Department response to the incident and/or the vehicle or property may be transported without further risk of injury to the public or damage to the environment.
(Ord. passed 5-10-2011; Ord. passed 9-14-2021)