[Adopted 5-15-2012 by Ord. No. 1575]
There is hereby created a Fire Watch Program in the Borough
of Palisades Park.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A temporary measure intended to ensure continuous and systematic
surveillance of a building or portion thereof by one or more qualified
individuals for the purpose of identifying and controlling fire and
other hazards, detecting early signs of fire, raising an alarm of
fire to the occupants, notifying the Fire Department and engaging
in firefighting or other emergency activity.
A.
A fire watch may be ordered by the Fire Official or his/her designee
except that in an emergency, or in his/her absence, the ranking Fire
Department Officer present, may act on his/her own. Fire watches may
be posted in any portion of the Borough, and in public or privately
owned buildings and/or properties as necessary. Such fire watches
shall be paid for by the applicable building owner, tenant, lessee
or management organization of a specific property and are to be implemented
under the following circumstances:
(1)
Required fire protection systems are out of service.
(2)
Fire watch is requested by the building owner, tenant, lessee or
management organization.
(3)
Public and private events with high occupancy loads as deemed appropriate
by the Fire Official or his/her assigned designee.
(4)
All other situations as deemed necessary by the Fire Official or
his/her assigned designee.
B.
Fire watches shall be performed by Firefighter 1 certified members
of the Palisades Park Fire Department.
C.
Persons appointed to perform fire watch duties shall be considered
occasional, hourly, at will employees of the Borough, subject to all
ordinances, rules and regulations.
All fire watch services ordered for the protection of property
shall be paid at a rate of $40 per hour, per individual, and there
shall be a minimum payment fee of four hours per individual. Additionally,
there will be a fee of $50 per hour for the use of Borough vehicles
and a fee of $250 per hour for the use of each piece of Borough fire
apparatus. An administrative fee of 15% will be applied to all billings
for fire watch services. All payments are to be made within 10 days
after service is provided, and payments shall be made payable to the
Borough of Palisades Park.