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§ 32.37 MEMBERSHIP.
   (A)   The Fire Department shall consist of so many members as may be decided by the City Council. The members may organize themselves in any way they may decide, subject to the review of the City Council.
   (B)   The volunteer Fire Department shall not have upon its rolls at one time more than 25 persons, for each engine and hose company in the Fire Department, and no hook and ladder company shall have upon its rolls at any one time more than 25 members. No organization shall be deemed to be a bona fide fire or hook and ladder company until it has procured for active service apparatus for the extinguishment or prevention of fires, in case of a hose company, to the value of $700, and of a hook and ladder company to the value of $500.
(Neb. RS 35-102)
   (C)   Members in good standing are those who keep their dues promptly paid up and are present and render active service when called out for the legitimate purposes of the Fire Department.
(Neb. RS 35-103)
   (D)   Volunteer firefighters of the Fire Department shall be deemed employees of the city while in the performance of their duties as members of the Department. Members of the volunteer Fire Department, before they are entitled to benefits under the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Act, shall be recommended by the Fire Chief or some person authorized to act for the Chief for membership therein to the Mayor and City Council and upon confirmation shall be deemed employees of the city. Members of the Fire Department after confirmation to membership may be removed by a majority vote of the City Council and thereafter shall not be considered employees of the city. Firefighters of the Fire Department shall be considered as acting in the performance and within the course and scope of their employment when performing activities outside of the corporate limits of the city, but only if directed to do so by the Fire Chief or some person authorized to act for the Chief.
(Neb. RS 48-115)
   (E)   The City Council shall purchase and maintain in force a policy of group term life insurance to age 65 covering the lives of all of the active volunteer fire and rescue personnel, except that when any such person serves more than one city or rural or suburban fire protection district, the policy shall be purchased only by the first city or district which he or she serves. The policy shall provide a minimum death benefit of $10,000 for death from any cause and shall, at the option of the insured, be convertible to a permanent form of life insurance at age 65. The coverage of such policy shall terminate as to any individual who ceases to be an active volunteer member of the Fire Department.
(Neb. RS 35-108)
   (F)   For purposes of the prohibition on receipt of any witness fee, attendance fee, or mileage fee by an employee of the city called as a witness in connection with his or her officially assigned duties, volunteer firefighters and rescue squad members testifying in that capacity alone shall not be deemed employees of the city.
(Neb. RS 33-139.01)
   (G)   The City Council may compensate or reimburse any member of the Fire Department for expenses incurred in carrying out his or her duties in an amount set by resolution.
   (H)   All members of the Fire Department shall be subject to such rules and regulations, and shall perform such duties, as may be prescribed or required of them by the Fire Chief or the City Council. The members of the Fire Department shall, during the time of a fire or great public danger, have and exercise the powers and duties of police officers and shall have full power and authority to arrest all persons guilty of any violation of the city code or the laws of the state.
   (I)   Members of the Fire Department may hold meetings and engage in social activities with the approval of the City Council. The secretary shall, upon request, keep a record of all meetings and shall make a report to the City Council of all meetings and activities of the Fire Department.
§ 32.38 RECORDS.
   The Fire Chief shall keep or cause to be kept a record of all meetings of the Fire Department, the attendance record of all members, and a record of all fires and shall make a full report of these records to the City Clerk during the last week in April each year. The record of any fire shall include the cause, origin, circumstances, property involved, and whether criminal conduct may have been involved. In the event of sizable property damage, the Fire Chief shall include the information of whether the losses were covered by insurance, and if so, in what amount. All records shall be available to the public at any reasonable time.
§ 32.39 FIRES.
   It shall be the duty of the Fire Department to use all proper means for the extinguishment of fires, to protect property within the city, and to secure the observance of all ordinances, laws, and other rules and regulations with respect to fires and fire prevention.
§ 32.40 DISTANT FIRES.
   (A)   Upon the permission of the Mayor or Fire Chief, or pursuant to any agreement with a fire district for mutual aid protection, such fire equipment of the city as may be designated by the City Council as rural equipment may be used beyond the corporate limits to extinguish reported fires.
   (B)   The firefighters of the city shall be considered as acting in the performance and within the scope of their duties in fighting fire or saving property or life outside the corporate limits of the city when directed to do so by the City Council or the Fire Chief or some person authorized to act for the Chief, and in so doing, may take such fire equipment of the city as may be designated by the City Council.
§ 32.41 INSPECTIONS.
   (A)   The Fire Chief where a Fire department is established or the Mayor where no Fire Department exists, at all reasonable hours, may enter into all buildings and upon all premises within his or her jurisdiction for the purposes of examination, in harmony with Neb. RS 81-501.01 to 81-531, the Nebraska Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1969, the Petroleum Products and Hazardous Substances Storage and Handling Act, and any other statutory duties imposed upon the State Fire Marshal.
(Neb. RS 81-512)
   (B)   It shall be the duty of the Fire Chief, when directed to do so by the City Council, to inspect or cause to be inspected by Fire Department officers, members, or some other official as often as may be necessary, but not less than two times a year, all buildings, premises, and public thoroughfares, except the interiors of private dwellings, for the purpose of ascertaining and causing to be corrected any conditions liable to create a fire hazard. The inspection shall be of the storage, sale, and use of flammable liquids, combustibles, and explosives; electric wiring and heating; the means and adequacy of exits, in case of fire in schools, churches, hotels, halls, theaters, factories, hospitals, and all other buildings in which numbers of persons congregate from time to time for any purpose whether publicly or privately owned; the design, construction, location, installation, and operation of equipment for storing, handling, and utilizing liquefied petroleum gases, specifying the odorization of such gases and the degree thereof; and chemicals, prozylin plastics, nitrocellulose films, or any other hazardous material that may now or hereafter exist.
§ 32.42 NOTICE OF VIOLATION.
   (A)   Upon the finding that the city code has been violated, the Fire Chief shall notify, or cause to be notified, the owner, occupant, or manager of the premises where a violation has occurred. Notice may be made personally or by delivering a copy to the premises and affixing it to the door of the main entrance of the premises. Whenever it may be necessary to serve such an order upon the owner, the order may be served personally, or by mailing a copy to the owner’s last known post office address if the owner is absent from the jurisdiction.
   (B)   Any such order shall be immediately complied with by the owner, occupant, or manager of the premises or building. The owner, occupant, or manager may, within five days after the order by the Fire Chief or his or her agent, appeal the order with the City Council requesting a review, and it shall be the duty of the City Council to hear the same within not less than five days nor more than ten days from the time when the request was filed in writing with the City Clerk. The City Council shall then affirm, modify, or rescind the order as safety and justice may require, and the decision shall then be final, subject only to any remedy which the aggrieved person may have at law or equity. The order shall be modified or rescinded only where it is evident that reasonable safety exists and that conditions necessitate a variance due to the probable hardship in complying literally with the order of the Fire Chief. A copy of any decision so made shall be sent to both the Fire Chief and the owner, occupant, or manager making the appeal.
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