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(A) Volunteer and auxiliary. In addition to the Fire Chief and officers of the Fire Department, there shall be volunteer firefighters and auxiliary firefighters who may be referred to as members of the town Volunteer Fire Department. The volunteer firefighters and auxiliary firefighters shall be referred to jointly as the Town Volunteer Fire Department. There shall be such number of positions for both volunteer firefighters and auxiliary firefighters as are from time to time approved by the governing body. Auxiliary firefighters shall not be actual volunteer firefighters and shall act only in accordance with the adopted town policy pertaining to auxiliary firefighters.
(B) Appointment; training course.
(1) No person shall be accepted to the position of volunteer firefighter until he or she has taken a training course prescribed by the Fire Chief, and passed an examination indicating adequate knowledge of the matters taught in the course. Such test shall be prescribed by the Fire Chief, and matters covered shall include but not be limited to methods of firefighting, types of buildings, operation of equipment, first aid, treatment of smoke inhalation, administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR, and such other relevant items as shall be directed by the Fire Chief.
(2) In the case of any individual who has prior experience as a firefighter on a volunteer fire department or on a full time fire department, the Chief may waive any part of the course, but the applicant shall take the test.
(3) All auxiliary firefighters shall be exempt from taking the prescribed training courses and examination as delineated in division (B)(1) above. The Fire Chief shall be responsible for prescribing the training requirements, if any, for all auxiliary volunteer firefighters.
(C) In service training. Each volunteer firefighter shall take regular training at least once each month, on the subjects prescribed and in the manner prescribed by the Fire Chief. The Chief shall require a minimum number of hours of training each month for each volunteer firefighter. The minimum number of hours shall be the amount required, in the opinion of the Chief, to learn new techniques and to continue to maintain skills under old techniques. Auxiliary firefighters shall not be required to take any in service training, except as determined by the Fire Chief, but may voluntarily participate in training at the discretion of the Fire Chief.
(D) Compensation. Members of the Volunteer Fire Department shall not receive payment for time spent answering fire calls. Members should not be paid for time attending any required training or any other training in connection with service as a volunteer firefighter. Volunteer firefighters who are members of the Town Volunteer Fire Department shall have the option of the town contributing to the state’s Volunteer Firefighters’, EMT, Search and Rescue Pension Account in an amount to be determined annually by the Council. Auxiliary firefighters who are members of the Town Volunteer Fire Department shall not receive pay and shall not have the option of the town contributing to the state’s Volunteer Firefighters’, EMT, Search and Rescue Pension Account for their benefit.
(E) List of members. The Chief of the Fire Department shall maintain, in the office of the Town Clerk-Treasurer, an accurate list of the members of the Fire Department and shall report promptly any additions or withdrawals from the membership.
(Prior Code, § 6-2-5) (Ord. 2024-01, passed 4-4-2024)
It shall be the duty of every officer and member of the Department to obey without question the orders of his or her superior officers at all times while in the fire station or at, or going to, or returning from fires.
(Prior Code, § 6-2-6) (Ord. 2024-01, passed 4-4-2024)
(A) Wearing of insignia required. The insignia of the Fire Department shall be determined by a vote of its members, and no member of the Department shall attend any drill practice or respond to any fire alarm without wearing such insignia, whenever compliance with this section is reasonably possible, and if attendance at any fire drill or fire without the insignia is unavoidable, it shall be the duty of any member lacking such identification, to wear a helmet, or other distinctive garb as designated by the officer in charge of the drill or firefighting procedure, by which the member may be readily identified as a member of the Department.
(B) Penalty for noncompliance not necessary. No member failing through inadvertence and no fault of his or her own to comply with this section shall be penalized under the terms of this chapter for failure to comply.
(Prior Code, § 6-2-7)
(A) Police power. The Chief of the Fire Department and members acting under his or her orders shall have full and complete police powers and authority within the fire station, at fires and proceeding to and returning from them, in all matters pertaining to the Fire Department.
(B) Authority at fires. The Chief or other officer in charge shall have authority to prescribe limits within which no person shall be admitted except by order of the officer. While actually attendant at a fire, the Police Chief and his or her deputy and all other law enforcement officers of the town shall be under the orders of the Chief or other officer of the Department in charge of the fire, and such law enforcement officers shall cooperate with the officer in charge in the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter.
(C) Right of entry during emergency. In the case of an emergency, the members of the Fire Department acting under the orders of the Chief shall have authority to enter any building in the proper performance of their duties.
(Prior Code, § 6-2-8)
(A) Annual inventory of Department property. The Chief of the Fire Department, immediately after assuming office and annually thereafter, shall make an inventory of all property owned by the Department or in its charge, noting the condition of each article. The inventory shall be submitted to the Mayor and governing body at the regular meeting of the governing body last occurring before the meeting in which the governing body annually considers and enacts the appropriation of funds to defray expenses of the town for the fiscal year.
(B) Recommendations for purchases or repairs. The Chief shall accompany the inventory of equipment with a list of his or her recommendations for the purchase of additional equipment, and repairs to existing equipment he or she may deem necessary, and any other recommendations he or she may desire to submit affecting the Fire Department.
(C) Inspection of fire hydrants. The Chief shall inspect or cause to be inspected by members of the Department, at least twice annually, and more often if necessary, all fire hydrants and shall list those needing attention in his or her next succeeding report to the governing body.
(D) Report damage or accidents involving members. Loss of, or damage to, equipment and accidents involving members of the Fire Department in the performance of their duties shall be reported immediately by the Chief, to the Mayor and governing body.
(E) Annual inspection of buildings. It shall be the duty of the Fire Chief to inspect or cause to be inspected by officers or members of the Department, as often as may be necessary, but not less than once each 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 cause fire, or any violation of the provisions or intent of any ordinance of the town affecting safety and/or fire prevention; however, no officer of the Fire Department shall enter onto private property without the consent of the occupant or owner, proper court order, or probable cause that a violation of an ordinance, an emergency situation, or an immediate safety hazard exists.
(Prior Code, § 6-2-9)
(A) Authority to order remedial action. Whenever any officer or member of the Department shall find in any building, or upon any premises or other place, combustible or explosive matter or any dangerous accumulation of rubbish or unnecessary accumulation of wastepaper, boxes, shavings, or any other highly flammable materials especially liable to fire, and which is so situated as to endanger property, or shall find any obstruction to or on any fire escape, stair, passageway, door, or window, liable to interfere with the operations of the Department, or egress of occupants, in case of fire, or shall find any condition dangerous to life or property by reason of the fire hazard thereby created, the member of the Department shall be fully authorized and it is hereby made his or her duty to order any hazardous condition as described to be removed or remedied, and whether or not the member is engaged in any routine fire inspection shall not affect the validity of the order.
(B) Compliance with order required. The order shall be complied with by the owner or occupant of the premises or building, subject to appeal within 24 hours to the Mayor, who shall, within ten days, review the order and file his or her decision thereon, and unless the order is revoked or modified, it shall remain in full force and be obeyed by the owner or occupant, and any owner or occupant failing to comply with any such order within ten days after the appeal shall have been determined, or if no appeal is taken, then, within ten days after the service of the order, shall be liable to penalty under the terms of this chapter.
(C) Responsibility for abatement. In those instances in which the owner and occupant of a building, or of any premises, is not one and the same person, the occupant of such building or premises shall first be held responsible for the abatement of any dangerous conditions as described in this chapter, but in the event of the occupant being unavailable or otherwise immune to process, the owner of the building or premises shall be responsible.
(D) Order discontinuance of use of dangerous device. The Fire Chief shall have full authority to order the immediate discontinuance of the use of any stove, stovepipe, flue, furnace, electric wiring, or other hazardous devices, pending results of an appeal to the Mayor.
(Prior Code, § 6-2-10) Penalty, see § 6-2-20
(A) Authority to order evacuation. For the purpose of protecting persons or property, the Fire Chief or other officer of the Fire Department in charge of extinguishment of any fire shall have authority to order the evacuation and/or abandonment of any building in immediate danger from an imminent spreading of such fire. The members of the Fire Department are to remove the contents of any threatened building whenever the authorized order for action cannot be otherwise carried out, and the officer in charge of extinguishment of any fire shall have complete police authority in the matter of removing persons from any threatened building.
(B) Authority to break into building. For the purpose of investigating the extent of any fire, or the extent of damage or danger and/or the need for evacuation, abandonment, or the action to be taken for the protection of persons or property, the Chief or other officer in charge, and members of the Fire Department working under the orders of the officer, shall have authority to enter any building, private residence, or otherwise, breaking into the building if necessary. No break in or other entry without consent of the owner, proprietor, or occupant of the building shall be ordered or made except in those cases which the owner, proprietor, or occupant is present but refuses to grant consent; and when entry is immediately necessary for the protection of any person or for the protection of any valuable property.
(C) Authority to order demolition. The officer in charge shall have authority to order demolition of any building, fences, or other objects obstructing access to fire hydrants and/or whose existence is liable to further the spread of any dangerous fire, and the town shall not be liable for the loss to the owner of the buildings incurred by reason of such demolition.
(Prior Code, § 6-2-11)
The Chief of the Fire Department shall keep or cause to be kept a complete record of the activities of the Fire Department and shall make a thorough investigation of each fire and report to the Mayor and governing body monthly, giving in detail the following information in regard to each fire, if available: cause, location, time, owner, tenant, occupancy, type of building, insurance carried, insurance paid, building loss, contents loss, how extinguished, apparatus used, firefighters present, adequacy of water supply and pressure, and any other information of value in such a report, or desired by any member of the governing body.
(Prior Code, § 6-2-12)
(A) Entering station or using equipment. No person shall enter or be allowed to enter the fire station unless accompanied by a member of the Department, unless authorized so to enter by a member of the Department or the administrative official. No person not a member of the Department shall use any of the fire apparatus at fires or otherwise unless acting under orders of the officer of the Fire Department in charge of the fire, nor shall any person interfere in any way with the Department or any member of the Department, in the performance of his, her, or its duty.
(B) Responding to fire alarm; parking near fire hydrant.
(1) Upon hearing a fire alarm, all drivers of vehicles shall take due warning and, upon the approach of fire apparatus, shall move promptly to the right curb and stop in order to leave the middle of the street clear for passage of the fire apparatus.
(2) Vehicles shall not follow fire apparatus nearer than one full block and shall not proceed to any point within one full block of the fire.
(3) This division (B) shall not apply to those vehicles driven by members of the Department proceeding to the fire for the purpose of assistance in its extinguishment.
(4) No vehicle shall be parked within 15 feet of any fire hydrant or before the entrance to any theater, hall, or other building in which large assemblages are held, and no vehicles shall be driven over any fire hose or other firefighting apparatus.
(Prior Code, § 6-2-13) Penalty, see § 6-2-20
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