[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Board of the Village of Westfield
as §§ 3-2-1 to 3-2-20 and 3-2-22 of the 1985 Code. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fire prevention — See Ch. 219.
There is hereby created and established a Fire Department consisting
of the Chief and such other members of the Fire Department as may from time
to time be provided for by the bylaws of the Fire Department as approved by
the Village Board. Said bylaws should be adopted for the control, management
and government and regulation of business and proceedings of the Department
subject to the approval of the Village Board and in accordance with Wisconsin
law. An amendment shall be adopted in the same manner.
No apparatus shall be used for any purpose except for fire fighting
within the Village limits or in training therefor, except pursuant to an agreement
approved by the Village Board after the Chief has given his recommendation
on such use. With the approval of the Chief, such apparatus may be used for
emergency purposes other than fire fighting within the Village. A written
report of such use shall be made annually to the Village Board and included
in the Department's budget.
The Fire Chief shall have the control, subject to the bylaws of said
Department and Village Board, of the Fire Department and all fire apparatus
belonging to the Village. Whenever any fire apparatus needs repairing said
Fire Chief shall cause the same to be done without delay. Said Chief shall
also be responsible for all fire apparatus as well as its upkeep.
In case of fire, the Fire Chief and his assistants shall rank in the
order named and the officer of the highest rank at the fire shall take command
of the Fire Department and direct the management thereof for the suppression
of the fire, in the best manner possible, and when it may be necessary for
the protection of other property and to prevent the spread of the conflagration,
the officer in command may cause buildings to be removed, torn down or destroyed
in the best manner possible.
The Fire Department shall consist of so many members as may be decided
upon by the bylaws of the Fire Department subject to the approval of the Village
Board. The Fire Department may hold meetings and engage in social activities
with the approval of the Village Board. The Secretary of the Fire Department,
if any is elected or appointed, shall keep a record of all meetings and shall
keep said report available to the Village Board of all meetings and all activities
of the Fire Department. No officer shall be elected or appointed within the
organization of the Fire Department without first following the bylaws of
the Department.
The Fire Chief shall keep or cause to be kept a record of all meetings
of the company and the attendance of the members and a record of all fires
and, during the last week in January of each year, file with the Village Clerk-Treasurer
a full report of such records and attendance and fires, as it will be the
duty of the Village Clerk-Treasurer to prepare the necessary vouchers for
the maintenance of the Fire Department, subject to the approval of the Village
Board.
It shall be the function and duty of the Fire Department and every member
thereof to extinguish accidental or destructive fires and to prevent the occurrence
or spread of such fires.
Any firemen in attendance at a fire shall at all times obey the orders
of the officer in command at the fire in accordance with the bylaws of said
Fire Department and the laws of the State of Wisconsin.
Spectators shall keep away from the fire, far enough to be out of the
firemen's way.
It shall be the duty of all officers of the Fire Department and all
police officers of the Village to see that the provisions of this chapter
and Chapter 273, Fire Prevention, are enforced and to arrest on view any person
who shall be found violating any of the provisions of this chapter or Chapter
273 or who shall hinder, resist, or refuse to obey any such officer in the
discharge of his duty, and to that end all such officers are hereby vested
the usual power and authority of police officers.
It shall be and hereby is declared unlawful for any person or persons to enter the Fire Department house or any place where the equipment and apparatus of the Fire Department are stored, at any time, except on business pertaining to the Fire Department or other Village business. The penalty for the violation of this section shall be as provided in Chapter 1, § 1-3 of this Code.
Members of the Fire Department are authorized to go outside the corporate
limits of the Village for the purpose of rendering aid to other fire departments
or of extinguishing fires or rendering aid in case of accidents. The Fire
Department shall not render such service outside the corporate limits excepting
upon orders of the Chief of the Fire Department or its ranking officer, and
provided also that where the Village has undertaken by contract to render
service to property outside the corporate limits the Fire Department may leave
the corporate limits in the fulfillment of such contract.
The mutual aid fire program is a plan or program as provided for in
this chapter whereby the municipalities participating in the program agree
to come to one another's assistance in case of fire or other disaster too
large for local equipment and personnel to handle. The Fire Department of
the Village of Westfield shall be permitted to have in its bylaws provisions
so as to enter into these mutual aid programs with different participating
municipalities. Any such mutual aid contract shall be approved by the Village
Board. Such mutual aid program shall, after approval by said Board and the
other municipalities participating, be in full force and effect and binding
upon such participating communities.
No person shall impede the progress of the fire engine or fire truck
or other fire apparatus of the Village of Westfield along the streets or alleys
of such Village at the time of a fire or when the Fire Department of the Village
us using such streets or alleys in response to a fire alarm or for practice.
Upon approach of any authorized emergency vehicle giving audible signal
by siren, the operator of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way and shall
immediately drive such vehicle to a position as near as possible and parallel
to the right curb or the right-hand edge of the shoulder of the roadway, clear
of any intersection, and, unless otherwise directed by a police officer, shall
stop and remain standing in such position until the authorized emergency vehicle
has passed.
No person shall occupy any portion of such streets or alleys with a
motor or other vehicle between such fire engine or fire truck or other fire
apparatus or any hydrant to which a fire hose may be or may be about to be
attached.
No person shall drive or ride in a motor or other vehicle over any fire
hose of the Village.
No person driving or riding in a motor or other vehicle in the same
direction as a fire engine or fire truck or other fire apparatus may be going
shall pass or approach within 500 feet of such fire engine or fire truck or
other fire apparatus at the time of a fire or an alarm of fire in such Village,
and at such times every person so driving or riding in a motor or other vehicle
in said Village shall obey the orders of the officers of the Fire Department
as to the use of such streets and alleys.
Any firemen while acting under the order or direction of the Chief or
other officer in command may enter upon the premises adjacent to or in the
vicinity of any building or other property then on fire for the purpose of
extinguishing such fire, and no person shall hinder or obstruct any fireman
in the discharge of his duties.
The Chief shall have the power to cause the removal of any property
whenever it shall become necessary for the preservation of such property from
fire or to prevent the spread of fire or protect adjoining property, and during
the progress of any fire, he shall have the power to order the destruction
of any property necessary to prevent the further spread of the fire. He shall
also have the power to cause the removal of all wires or other facilities
and the turning off of all electricity or other services where the same impede
the work of the Department during the progress of a fire.
The bylaws of the Fire Department shall provide that all funds paid
by the Fire Department will be disbursed by the Fire Department Treasurer.
The Fire Department Treasurer will submit a monthly report of receipts and
disbursements to the Village Clerk-Treasurer within two days after the regular
meeting of the Fire Department. The Clerk-Treasurer will then record this
activity in the general fund books via a journal entry.
