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§ 95.056 FIRE CHIEF.
   The Fire Chief shall have all such powers as may be necessary and lawful to meet the responsibilities imposed upon him or her by this section, including, but not limited to, the following:
   (A)   He or she shall have absolute command, control, management, assignment to duties, and supervision of every officer, member, and employee of the Fire Department during a fire and at all practices and drills, and during all hours when such personnel are on duty:
   (B)   He or she shall have absolute control, authority, and command of the police officers present at the scene of any fire during the time and continuance of any fire or conflagration, and all orders issued by him or her to such police officers, and to other persons present shall be by them explicitly obeyed and performed;
   (C)   He or she shall have supervision over the engine houses, trucks, and all apparatus and equipment belonging to the Fire Department. He or she shall be responsible for the serviceable condition of all equipment belonging to the Fire Department, and he or she shall be responsible that every piece of fire apparatus is equipped at all times with the necessary wrenches and all other equipment belonging to that piece of apparatus and necessary in the successful fighting of fire;
   (D)   He or she shall have supervision over all repairs to apparatus and the charge of all supplies, and shall issue them upon his or her own discretion or upon the authority of the Common Council to the units of the Fire Department, taking from them the receipt of the commanding officer of the unit to which the supplies are issued. He or she shall have sole control, management, and command at fires and alarms, of fire over all apparatus and equipment belonging to the Fire Department. Whenever any purchases are to be made, or the fire apparatus used by the Department requires attention or repairs, he or she shall make a report and recommendations to the Common Council unless the repairs needed are of such character that will require immediate attention;
   (E)   He or she shall have authority to direct the pulling down or destroying of any fence, house, building, or other thing, if deemed necessary to prevent the spreading of a fire; and
   (F)   He or she shall be responsible for the keeping of necessary records for the Fire Department, which shall be subject to the inspection of the Mayor and members of the Common Council at any time. Such record shall list and note, inter alia, the state of repair of all property belonging to the Fire Department. He or she shall record and report monthly to the Common Council a statement of all fires occurring since the previous report, the units and personnel responding to alarms, the loss and insurance as far as ascertaineds the causes of any such fires, together with such suggestions as he or she may deem advisable to bring the number of fires to a minimum. He or she shall also keep at his or her office such books or other records as the Common Council may prescribe.
(Prior Code, § 11-33)
Statutory reference:
   Removing structures when necessary to prevent spread of fire, see W. Va. Code 8-15-1 and 8-15-2
§ 95.057 AUTHORITY TO COMMAND; OBEDIENCE TO ORDERS.
   (A)   Authority within the Fire Department shall flow from the Fire Chief through the Assistant Fire Chief and other officers and firefighters downward in order of rank and seniority within rank; and subordinates shall have the powers and perform the duties of their immediate superiors when such superiors are absent or disabled.
   (B)   Each member of the Fire Department shall obey all lawful orders of his or her superiors in the chain of command.
(Prior Code, § 11-34)
§ 95.058 UNAUTHORIZED USE OF DEPARTMENT PROPERTY.
   It shall be unlawful for any person, whether or not he or she be an officer of the city, to use or allow to be used, for any purpose other than in case of fire or in line of Fire Department duty, any property, equipment, or apparatus of the Fire Department.
(Prior Code, § 11-35) Penalty, see § 95.999
§ 95.059 LIMITED AUTHORITY TO ANSWER CALLS WITHIN TWO MILES OF CITY.
   The Fire Department is hereby authorized and empowered to answer all fire calls within a radius of two miles outside the corporate limits of the city, with the further authority to use any equipment of the Fire Department necessary to combat any fire in such area; provided, that in the event of a fire within the corporate limits of the city at the same time there is a fire outside the corporate limits and within such radius, the Fire Department personnel shall give preference to the city unless, under the circumstances, it becomes possible to combat both such fires at the same time without jeopardizing property within the corporate limits by such action.
(Prior Code, § 11-36)
§ 95.060 RULES AND REGULATIONS.
   (A)   The Mayor, in consultation with the Fire Chief and the President of the city’s Volunteer Fire Department, shall prepare rules and regulations, not inconsistent with state law, the city Charter, or this Code, and with due consideration of the lawful rules and regulations of the city’s Volunteer Fire Department, promulgated pursuant to authority of W. Va. Code 8-15-4, for the organization and government of the Fire Department.
   (B)   Such rules and regulations shall have full force and effect when approved by resolution of the Common Council and a copy thereof has been placed on file at Fire Department headquarters for the information of all personnel of the Department, and it shall then be unlawful for any member or employee of the Fire Department to violate or fail to comply with any such rule or regulation.
(Prior Code, § 11-37) Penalty, see § 95.999
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