[Adopted 6-18-1984 by Ord. No. 12-84 (Sec. 3-1 of the Revised General Ordinances); amended in its entirety 4-18-2022 by Ord. No. 04-22]
The Fire Department of the Township of Washington shall be composed of the following:
A. 
The Long Valley Fire Company No. 1.
B. 
The Schooley's Mountain Fire Protection Association.
C. 
The Fairmount Fire Company No. 1.
On the scene of all emergencies to which the Township of Washington Fire Department is called, other than a technical search and rescue or medical emergency as defined at § 14-2, the ranking officer of the Township of Washington Fire Department shall assume authority over the scene. The Long Valley First Aid Squad, Inc., shall assume authority over and be the lead agency at all technical search and rescue or medical emergency scenes as defined at § 14-2. Interagency responses shall be handled under the Unified Command Structure, as defined by the national Incident Management System, with the lead agency's ranking officer assuming authority over the scene.
A. 
All applicants for membership in the Fire Department of the Township of Washington, including the Long Valley Fire Company, the Schooley's Mountain Fire Protection Association, the Fairmount Fire Company and any additional fire companies which may hereafter be established, shall be required to submit to criminal history checks prior to commencing service in accordance with § 24-9[1] of the Code of the Township of Washington.
[1]
Editor's Note: Section 24-9, Criminal history checks, was repealed 11-20-2006 by Ord. No. 21-06. See now Ch. 9, Criminal History Background Checks, Art. I, Fire Department and First Aid Squad.
B. 
All such members must be approved by the Township Committee, upon recommendation of the appropriate Fire Company prior to commencing service.
C. 
Members of the Fire Department shall serve as volunteers and shall serve without compensation.
D. 
Members of the Fire Department are required to comply with the Department's SOGs and company bylaws. Failure to comply may result in disciplinary action by the membership of the Fire Department consistent with the Department's bylaws. Members of the Fire Department may be disciplined or discharged by the Township Committee after notice, a hearing and consultation with the Fire Department line officers, for violation of the rules and regulations promulgated and adopted by the Department or for a violation of the bylaws of the Fire Department.
A quarterly operations report shall be submitted to the Township Committee by each company.
The Township Committee shall, in its annual budget, appropriate a sum of money to assist in the efficient and effective operation of the Fire Department.