[Amended 9-22-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-008]
The Ledgeview Fire Department is established with volunteer
membership within the Town of Ledgeview, funded by the Town of Ledgeview,
and established under § 60.55(1)(a)1, Wis. Stats.
The Ledgeview Board shall appropriate funds for Fire Department
operations and for such apparatus and equipment for the use of the
Fire Department as the Board may deem expedient and necessary to maintain
efficiency and properly protect life and property from fire.
A.
The primary objective of the fire defense program is to serve all
citizens, without prejudice or favoritism, by safeguarding, collectively
and individually, their lives against the effects of fires and explosions.
B.
The second objective of the fire defense program is to safeguard
the general economy and welfare of the community by preventing major
conflagrations and the destruction by fire of industries, businesses,
farms and homes.
C.
The third objective of the fire defense program is to protect the
property of all citizens against the effects of fire and explosions.
All property deserves equal protection regardless of location or monetary
value.
The officers and members of the Fire Department shall receive
such compensation as may, from time to time, be fixed by the Ledgeview
Board.
The Fire Department shall consist of a Fire Chief, an Assistant
Chief and such other officers and firefighters as may be approved
by the Fire Chief who shall live within the territory served by the
Fire Department or within a maximum ten-minute response time of any
Ledgeview fire station.
No person shall impede the progress of a fire engine, fire truck
or other fire apparatus of the Fire Department along the streets or
alleys of Ledgeview at the time of a fire or when the Fire Department
is using such streets or alleys in response to a fire alarm or for
practice.
A.
The Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief in command at any fire are hereby
vested with full and complete police authority at fires. Any officer
of the Fire Department may cause the arrest of any person failing
to give the right-of-way to the Fire Department in responding to a
fire.
B.
The Fire Chief may prescribe certain limits in the vicinity of any
fire within which no persons, except firefighters, police officers,
deputy sheriffs, emergency medical technicians and those admitted
by order of any officer of the Fire Department, shall be permitted
to come.
C.
The Fire 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 spreading of fire or to protect the adjoining
property, and during the progress of any fire the Fire Chief shall
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 impedes the work of the Fire Department during the progress of
a fire.
D.
The Fire Chief shall have police powers granted by state law to protect
the life and health of the public, determine the cause of fires and
conduct emergency operations, including, but not limited to:
(1)
Inspection warrants as provided in § 66.0119, Wis. Stats.;
(2)
Arson investigation and information regarding fire loss as provided
in § 165.55(14), Wis. Stats;
(3)
Evacuation of areas and assistance for fire suppression as provided
in § 213.095, Wis. Stats.;
(4)
Right of entry into property or premises for fire suppression or
emergency medical assistance as provided in § 213.095, Wis.
Stats.
(5)
Declare hazardous materials, buildings and activities as provided
in § 101.14, Wis. Stats.;
E.
Elimination of dangerous or hazardous conditions.
[Added 4-7-2014 by Ord. No. 2014-003]
(1)
When orders to be issued. Whenever the Fire Chief or his designee
finds in any building or upon any premises any of the following dangerous
or hazardous conditions or materials which present a clear and present
danger due to the likelihood of fire or explosion, such materials
shall, upon the order of the Fire Chief or his designee, be removed
or conditions remedied in a reasonable manner:
(a)
Dangerous or unlawful amounts of combustible or explosive materials.
(b)
Hazardous conditions arising from defective or improperly installed
equipment for handling or using combustible or explosive materials.
(c)
Dangerous or unlawful accumulations of rubbish, waste, paper
boxes, shavings or other flammable materials.
(d)
Accumulation of dust or waste material in air-conditioning or
ventilation systems or of grease in kitchen or other exhaust ducts.
(e)
Obstruction of fire escapes, stairs, passageways, doors or windows
which interfere with the operations of the Fire Department or egress
of occupants in case of fire.
(2)
Service of orders.
(a)
The service of written orders by the Chief, or his designee,
for the correction of violations of this chapter shall be made upon
the owner, occupant, or other person responsible for the conditions,
either by delivering a copy of the same to any person in charge of
the premises or by mailing such orders to the owner or other responsible
person. This subsection shall not preclude the Chief, or his designee,
from issuing orders orally or in such other manner as deemed appropriate
under the circumstances.
(b)
If buildings or other premises are owned by one person, and
occupied by another, the orders issued in connection with the enforcement
of this chapter shall apply to the occupant thereof as well as to
the owner. Except where rules or orders require the making of additions
to or changes in the premises themselves, such as would immediately
become fixtures upon the real estate and become the property of the
owner of the premises, such orders shall be served upon the owner
of the premises unless it is otherwise agreed between the owner and
the occupant.
(c)
Receipt of any order issued by the Chief, or his designee, hereunder
by the owner or the occupant shall be sufficient notice to effect
compliance with that order.
A.
The Fire Chief, or designee, shall be the Ledgeview Fire Inspector
and shall have the power to appoint one or more Deputy Fire Inspectors
and shall perform all duties required of fire inspectors by the laws
of the state and rules of the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, particularly
§ 101.14, Wis. Stats.
B.
While acting as Fire Inspector pursuant to § 101.14(2),
Wis. Stats., the Fire Chief, or any officer of the Fire Department
designated by the Fire Chief, shall have the right and authority to
enter any building or upon any premises in Ledgeview at all reasonable
hours for the purpose of making inspections or investigations which,
under the provisions of this Code, he or she may deem necessary. Should
the Fire Inspector find that any provisions of this Code relating
to fire hazards and prevention of fires are being violated, or that
a fire hazard exists that should be eliminated, it shall be the Fire
Inspector's duty to give such directions for the abatement of
such conditions as the Fire Inspector shall deem necessary and, if
such directions be not complied with, to report such noncompliance
to the Ledgeview Board for further action.
C.
The Fire Chief, or any officers of the Fire Department designated
by the Fire Chief as Fire Inspectors, shall inspect 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 violations of any law
or ordinance relating to the fire hazard or to the prevention of fires.
Such inspections shall be made at least once in each nonoverlapping
six-month period per calendar year in all of the territory served
by the Fire Department, and not less than once in three months in
such territory as the Ledgeview Board has designated or thereafter
designates as within Ledgeview or as a congested district subject
to conflagration, and oftener as the Fire Chief orders.
D.
Reports of inspections shall be made and kept on file in the office
of the Fire Chief in the manner and form required by the Wisconsin
Department of Commerce.
A.
Driving over fire hose. No person shall willfully injure in any manner
any hose, hydrant or fire apparatus belonging to the Fire Department,
and no vehicle shall be driven over any unprotected hose of the Fire
Department when laid down on any street, private driveway or other
place, to be used at any fire or alarm of fire, without the consent
of the Fire Department official in command.
B.
Parking vehicles near hydrants. It shall be unlawful for any person
to park any vehicle or leave any object within 10 feet of any fire
hydrant at any time.
C.
No parking near fire. It shall be unlawful for any person, in case
of fire, to drive or park any vehicle within one block from the place
of fire without the consent and authority of the Fire Chief or the
officer in command.
A.
Entering adjacent property. It shall be lawful for any firefighter
while acting under the direction of the Fire Chief or other officer
in command of an incident to enter upon the premises adjacent to or
in the vicinity of a building or other property then on fire for the
purpose of extinguishing such fire, and in case any person shall hinder,
resist or obstruct any firefighter in the discharge of duties as is
hereinbefore provided, the person so offending shall be deemed guilty
of resisting a firefighter in the discharge of their duty.
B.
Destruction of property to prevent the spread of fire. During the
progress of any fire, the Fire Chief or Assistant Chief shall have
the power to order the removal or destruction of any property necessary
to prevent the further spread of fire, provided that it is inevitable
that, unless such property is removed, other property is in danger
of being destroyed by fire.
Every person who shall be present at a fire shall be subject
to the orders of the Fire Chief or officer in command and may be required
to render assistance or in removing or guarding property. Such officer
shall have the power to cause the arrest of any person refusing to
obey said orders.
Whenever Fire Department vehicles are operating in an emergency
with lights flashing and/or sirens operating, every person driving
or riding in a motorized or other vehicle shall move and remain to
the side of the street until the fire engine and fire truck and other
fire apparatus shall have passed.
A.
Purpose. The purpose of this section is to provide for fees to reimburse
Ledgeview in part or in whole for emergency responses by the Fire
Department to traffic accidents and other incidents that occur on
public highways.
B.
Reimbursement.
(1)
Ledgeview shall charge a fee as established by the Board from time to time and provided in § 1-19 of this Code for reimbursement of response costs for any fire call on any Ledgeview highway for any emergency response by the Fire Department requiring the deployment of any Fire Department personnel or equipment. The fee shall be collected from the insurer of the person to whom the fire call was provided or the person to whom the fire call was provided. Where a fire call involves a multiple-vehicle accident, Ledgeview shall collect costs from the person determined to be at fault for the accident.
(2)
For any fire call to a state trunk highway or any highway that is
part of the national system of interstate highways, if reasonable
collection efforts have failed, Ledgeview may seek reimbursement of
costs from the Department of Transportation pursuant to § 60.557(2),
Wis. Stats.
(3)
For any fire call to any county trunk highway, Ledgeview may seek
reimbursement of costs from the county in which the highway was located
pursuant to § 60.557(1), Wis. Stats., if reasonable collection
efforts have failed from the person to whom the fire call was provided
or the person is unknown.
A.
Purpose and authority. This section is enacted pursuant to the authority
of § 66.0608, Wis. Stats., for the purpose of authorizing
volunteer funds to be held in the name of the Ledgeview Firefighters
Association. This chapter and its terms shall be interpreted in accordance
with § 66.0608, Wis. Stats.
B.
Authorization to deposit funds. The Ledgeview Board hereby authorizes
the Ledgeview Fire Chief to deposit volunteer funds of the Ledgeview
Firefighters Association in an account in the name of the Association
in any public depository designated by Ledgeview under § 34.05,
Wis. Stats.
C.
Control of funds. The Firefighters Association created pursuant to Ch. 184, Wis. Stats., is granted exclusive control over the expenditure of the volunteer funds. This authority is granted without limitation as to amount or type of funds but shall be subject to the limitations of Subsection D below.
D.
Limitations and requirements. The following limitations and requirements
shall apply to the handling and disbursement of all volunteer funds:
(1)
Expenditures. Expenditures withdrawn from the accounts may be made
only upon majority vote of the Firefighters Association present at
a regularly scheduled or duly noticed meeting. Such withdrawals and
expenditures may be made for any purpose that promotes the ability
of the Fire Department to provide services for which it is organized.
(2)
Accounting. The President of the Firefighters Association shall provide
the Town Board with annual statements at the end of its fiscal year.
The statement shall be provided within 30 days after the end of the
fiscal year. The statement shall include a detailed itemization of
all receipts, expenditures, and the balance on hand at the end of
the year. The source of all funds and the identity of the payee for
each disbursement shall be set forth.
(3)
Audit. The Ledgeview Firefighters Association accounts shall be included
in an independent audit scheduled by the Town Board. In addition,
the Firefighters Association may appoint an internal audit committee
from its membership after the close of each fiscal year to review
all transactions to ensure compliance with this chapter and any internal
policies of the Fire Department. Any such audit committee shall issue
a report of its findings to the membership of the Firefighters Association
and to the Town Board.
