[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Vinland
as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted as §§ 5-1-1, 5-1-4, 5-1-5, 5-1-7
and 5-2-6, of the 2004 Code]
A.
General authority.
(1)
The Town Board shall provide for fire protection for the Town of
Vinland. Fire protection for the Town or any portion of the Town may
be provided in any manner, including:
(a)
Establishing a Town fire department.
(b)
Joining with another town, village or city to establish a joint
fire department. If the Town Board establishes a joint fire department
with a village under § 61.65(2)(a)3, Wis. Stats., the Town
Board shall create a joint Board of Fire Commissioners with the village
under § 61.65(2)(b)2, Wis. Stats.
(c)
Contracting with any person.
(d)
Utilizing a fire company organized under Ch. 213, Wis. Stats.
(2)
The Town Board may provide for the equipping, staffing, housing and
maintenance of fire protection services. The Town of Vinland has entered
into a mutual aid agreement with area units of government to provide
fire protection services.
A.
Police authority at fires.
(1)
The Chief and assistants or officers in command of a fire department
at any fire are hereby vested with full and complete authority at
fires. Any officer of a fire department may cause the arrest of any
person failing to give right-of-way to a fire department in responding
to fires.
(2)
The Fire Chief may prescribe certain limits in the vicinity of any
fire within which no persons excepting firefighters and law enforcement
officers and those admitted by order of any officer of the department
shall be permitted to come.
(3)
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 any fire. He 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 department during the progress of a fire.
B.
Firefighters to have powers of traffic officers. Members of a fire
department, when at the scene of a fire or other emergency or when
fire department vehicles are upon the street pursuant to an emergency
call, shall have the authority and duty of traffic officers to direct
traffic, as conditions require, notwithstanding any other provision
of this article.
A.
The Fire Chief and Assistant Chief of the Town of Vinland Fire Department
shall be the Fire Inspectors of the Town of Vinland and shall have
the power to appoint one or more Deputy Fire Inspectors, who shall
perform all duties required of the Fire Inspectors by the laws of
the state and rules of the Department of Safety and Professional Services,
particularly § 101.14, Wis. Stats.
[Amended 3-13-2017 by Ord. No. 01-2017]
B.
While acting as Fire Inspectors pursuant to § 101.14(2)
Wis. Stats., the Fire Chief or any officers of the Fire Department
designated by the Fire Chief shall have the right and authority to
enter any building or upon any premises in the Town of Vinland at
all reasonable hours for the purpose of making inspections or investigations,
which under the provision of this Code he may deem necessary. Should
the Fire Inspector find that any provision of this Code relating to
fire hazards and/or life safety codes, as it relates to the prevention
of fires, is being violated or that a fire hazard exists which should
be eliminated, it shall be his/her duty to give such directions for
the abatement of such conditions as he/she shall deem necessary and,
if such directions be not complied with, to report such noncompliance
to the Town Board for further action.
C.
The Fire Chief of the Fire Department is required, by himself/herself
or by officers or members of the Fire Department designated by him
as Fire Inspectors, to 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 violation of any law or ordinance relating
to fire hazard or to the prevention of fires. Such inspections shall
be made at least once in six months in all of the territory served
by the Fire Department and more often as the Chief of the Fire Department
orders. Each six-month period shall begin on January 1 and July 1
of each year.
D.
Written reports of inspections shall be made and kept on file in
the office of the Chief of the Fire Department in the manner and form
required by the Department of Safety and Professional Services. A
copy of all such reports shall be filed with the Town Clerk.
[Amended 3-13-2017 by Ord. No. 01-2017]
A.
Entering adjacent property. It shall be lawful for any firefighters
while acting under the direction of a Fire Chief or any other officer
in command 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 his/her duty as is hereinbefore
provided, the person so offending shall be deemed guilty of resisting
firefighters in the discharge of their duty.
B.
Destruction of property to prevent the spread of fire. During the
progress of any fire, a Fire Chief or his/her assistant 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.
A.
A fire department serving the Town of Vinland shall investigate the
cause, origin and circumstances of every fire occurring in the Town
which is of suspicious nature or which involves loss of life or injury
to persons or by which property has been destroyed or substantially
damaged. Such investigations shall be begun immediately upon the occurrence
of such a fire by the fire officer in whose district the fire occurs.
If it appears that such fire is of suspicious origin, the Chief of
the Fire Department shall take charge immediately of the physical
evidence, shall notify the proper authorities designated by law to
pursue the investigation of such matters and shall further cooperate
with the authorities in the collection of evidence and in the prosecution
of the case.
B.
Appropriate law enforcement agencies, upon request of the Chief of
the Fire Department, may assist in the investigation of any fire which
in the opinion of the Chief of the Fire Department is of suspicious
origin.
[Adopted 2-12-2003]
This article 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 Fire Department. This article is to be interpreted
in conformance with that section as it may be amended from time to
time.
The Town Board of the Town of Vinland does hereby authorize
the Vinland Fire Department's Secretary/Treasurer to deposit volunteer
funds of the Department in an account in the name of the Fire Department
in any public depository.
The Fire Department, through its Fire Chief, is granted exclusive
control over the expenditure of funds of the Department. This authority
is granted without limitation as to amount or type of funds. It is
subject to the limitations and requirements hereinafter set forth.
The following limitations and requirements shall apply to the
handling and disbursement of funds from the account:
A.
Expenditures.
Expenditures withdrawn from the account may be made only upon majority
vote of Fire Department members present at a duly noticed meeting
of the Department. 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.
B.
Accountings.
The Fire Chief shall provide the Town Board with annual statements
at the end of each year. The statements shall be provided within 20
days following the end of the year. The statements 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.
C.
Audit. Fire
Department accounts shall be included in the annual audit of Town
funds. They shall be audited in the same manner as other Town funds.
If any provision of this article is invalid or unconstitutional,
or if the application of this article to any person or circumstance
is invalid or unconstitutional, the invalidity or unconstitutionality
shall not affect the provisions or applications of this article which
can be given effect without the invalid or unconstitutional provision
or application.
All existing Town ordinances, parts of ordinances and amendments
thereto in conflict with any of the provisions of this article are
hereby repealed.
This article shall take effect immediately upon the passage
and posting or publication as provided by law.
