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The commissioner is authorized and empowered to receive and collect all license fees mentioned in this title and chapter four of title twenty-seven of the code, and may sue for, and shall have the exclusive right of recovery of any and all fees, fines and penalties imposed hereunder, together with costs. Such action may be brought in any of the courts of record of the city. The commissioner may bring any action for the enforcement of the rights and contracts of the department, and for the protection, possession and maintenance of the property under its control. All actions authorized by this title and chapter four of title twenty-seven of the code shall be brought in the name of the commissioner of the city of New York. The commissioner is authorized to settle or compromise any suit or judgment for less than the amount demanded or recovered, in case he or she is satisfied that the full amount cannot be collected. The commissioner and the corporation counsel shall pay all license fees, fines and penalties received by them pursuant to any of the provisions of this title and chapter four of title twenty-seven of the code into the general fund of the city established pursuant to section one hundred nine of the charter.
The commissioner, the chief and deputy chief fire marshals, the assistant fire marshals, and such other employees of the department designated by the commissioner, shall investigate, examine and inquire into the following matters:
1. The origin, detail and management of fires in the city, particularly of supposed cases of arson, incendiarism, or fires due to criminal carelessness.
2. The violation of any of the several regulations, orders, or special directions issued by the commissioner, for the purpose of discovering any delinquency in the performance of duty, or violations of discipline, on the part of any officer, agent, or employee of the department.
3. The violation, or supposed violation, of any of the provisions of this title or chapter four of title twenty-seven of the code.
a. Power of subpoena of commissioner.
1. The commissioner, in and about any investigation authorized by section 15-218 of this title, and touching any matter connected therewith, may subpoena and compel the attendance of any person or persons, and the production of any books, papers, archives or documents in his, her or their possession or control, which, in the judgment of the commissioner or of the chief or deputy chief fire marshal, is connected with and necessary to such investigation.
2. For such purpose, the corporation counsel, at any time, may cause subpoenas to be issued out of the supreme court, attested under the name of a justice of such court, in like form and with same effect as though issued by such justice in any action pending in a court of record, and such subpoenas may be served, and proof of service may be made, in the same manner as by law provided for the service of subpoenas out of such court. Upon proof of service of the subpoena, and proof of noncompliance therewith, or failure to attend and testify as directed therein, or failure to produce any book, paper, archive or document in the possession or control of the persons named in the subpoena, and directed to be produced therein, or failure or refusal on their part to answer any pertinent question, application may be made before any justice of the supreme court, who may thereupon cause to be arrested and punished as for a contempt of the orders of such court the person or persons named in such subpoena.
3. Any person subpoenaed under this section shall attend and testify upon such adjourned day or days and at such adjourned time and place as may be designated by the commissioner or chief or deputy chief fire marshal.
b. Power of subpoena of fire marshal.
1. A fire marshal shall have the power to issue a notice in the nature of a subpoena, in such form and subscribed in such manner as the commissioner shall prescribe, to compel the attendance of any person as a witness before such fire marshal, to testify in relation to any matter enumerated in section 15-218 of this title.
2. Upon the presentation of satisfactory proof of due service of any such notice in the nature of a subpoena upon any such witness, and of failure to obey the same, it shall be the duty of the commissioner to make an order that such witness be arrested and brought before the marshal, to testify in relation to the subject matter of the inquiry. Such order may be executed by any member of the police force or any member of the force having the power of police officers, who may arrest and bring the witness before such marshal; but such witness shall not be detained longer than is necessary to take such testimony.
c. Additional penalty for disobedience of subpoena. Any person or persons who fail to attend and testify as required by any subpoena issued under the authority of this section shall be liable to a penalty in the sum of fifty dollars.
a. The commissioner, the chief and deputy chief fire marshals, and the assistant fire marshals, in conducting any investigation authorized by section 15-218 of this title, shall have the power to administer oaths and affirmations, and any false swearing under such oath or affirmation shall be perjury.
b. The chief fire marshal, or other person conducting such investigation shall take the testimony, under oath, of all persons supposed to be cognizant of any fact, or to have means of knowledge, in relation to the subject of the investigation, and shall cause the same to be reduced to writing and verified. All such testimony, together with the report of the investigating officer setting forth his or her opinions and conclusions in respect to the matter, shall be transmitted to the commissioner. A copy of such testimony and report may be furnished, in the discretion of the commissioner, to the police department, to the district attorney of the county in which a crime is believed to have occurred, to the New York board of fire underwriters, to the owners of the property involved, and to other persons interested in the subject matter of the investigation. In all cases of supposed arson, incendiarism, or fires due to criminal carelessness, the commissioner, or officer authorized by the commissioner, shall promptly seek the cooperation of such police department and district attorney, and shall report to such attorney, without delay, all evidence, with the addresses of probable witnesses.
a. Any person who shall knowingly make a false statement or who shall knowingly falsify or allow to be falsified any certificate, form, signed statement, application, report or certification of the correction of a violation required under the provisions of any laws, rules, or regulations enforceable by the department, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars or by imprisonment not to exceed six months, or both for each such offense.
b. Such person shall also be liable for a civil penalty of not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars which may be recovered in a proceeding before the environmental control board. In any such proceeding which relates to a false statement in a certification filed pursuant to section 15-230, if an inspection made within six months after the filing of the certification finds a condition constituting a violation which is the same as the condition described in the notice of violation with respect to which such certification was filed, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the condition described in such notice of violation continued and is the same condition found in the inspection.
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 1988/074.
It shall be the duty of the chief and deputy chief fire marshals, the assistant fire marshals, or other employees authorized by the commissioner to conduct investigations, whenever they shall be of the opinion that there is sufficient evidence to charge any person with the crime of arson or attempted arson, to arrest or cause such person to be arrested and charged with such offense.
Upon finding that a violation of any law, the enforcement of which is charged upon the department, exists in any vessel, premises, ground, structure, building, or underground passage, the commissioner, the chief fire marshal, or such other member of the department designated by such commissioner, may issue a printed or written order directing the owner or occupant to alter, remedy, or remove such violation in such manner and in such reasonable time as is stated therein. Such order may authorize and direct the use of such materials and appliances as may be proper and necessary.
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