[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Jenkintown 6-24-1929. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The Fire Department of the Borough of Jenkintown shall consist
of the Pioneer Fire Company No. 1, the Independent Fire Company No.
2 and such additional companies as may hereafter be by ordinance or
resolution received into the Department by the Borough Council.
The officers of the Fire Department of the Borough of Jenkintown
shall consist of a Chief and a Deputy Chief who shall not be members
of the same company. Each of these officers shall be over 25 years
of age, shall have been a citizen and resident of Jenkintown for at
least two consecutive years immediately prior to his election, and
shall be an active member of at least one year's standing in
one of the companies of the Department.
[Amended 3-14-1930; 4-28-1980 by Ord. No. 80-13]
At the first meeting in January of each year, the Chief and
Deputy Chief shall be appointed by the Borough Council and hold office
for the calendar year ensuing or until their respective successors
are appointed. On or before January 1 of each year, the Fire Department
of the Borough may submit to the Council candidates for each office,
selected by it, but Council, in making the appointments, shall not
be confined to the candidates so selected.
[Amended 3-14-1930]
The Chief and Deputy Chief may be removed from office for cause
deemed by Council to be sufficient, but only after hearing. Upon the
death, resignation or removal of either of the said officials, the
Fire Department aforesaid may forthwith submit candidates for the
vacancy, and the Borough Council shall, as soon as practicable, fill
any such vacancy.
A.
Before assuming the office, the Chief and Deputy Chief shall take
and subscribe to the oath required of Borough officers. When on duty
they shall wear badges plainly designating their office. At fires
they shall be members of the police force, with all the powers of
Borough police. The Chief shall have complete control of the Fire
Department at all fires, directing and superintending the operations
of the Department as will best protect property from destruction by
fire or by unnecessary use of water. The Chief and Deputy Chief shall
enforce all rules and regulations enacted and prescribed from time
to time by the Board of Control hereinafter mentioned. The Chief or
his Deputy, when acting as Chief, shall have the power at fires to
rope off streets and to exclude the public from the immediate vicinity
of the fire with authority to call upon the police for assistance
and to investigate all fires and keep a correct record thereof in
a book to be provided by Council and to remain the property of the
Borough, which record shall give the date of each fire, location thereof,
how the alarm was received, the time of the alarm, the time and order
in which each company reached the fire, the time of the Department's
relief from service, a description of the property burned, detailed
method of extinguishing the fire, loss and insurance details, the
name of the owner or tenant and the cause of the fire, if ascertained.
B.
The Chief or Deputy Chief, when acting as Chief, may inspect from
time to time all buildings and premises within the fire limits or
where accumulations of combustible materials or other hazardous conditions
exist or are likely to exist and order such changes or removal as
in his opinion are necessary to avoid losses by fire. Failure of any
owner or tenant to remove a fire hazard, when ordered so to do by
the Chief or his Deputy, shall subject the offender to a fine or penalty
of not more than $300. and imprisonment for not more than 30 days,
or both, for each and every offense, to be collected as fines and
penalties are collected by law. For the purpose of this inspection,
the Chief and Deputy Chief are hereby empowered to enter any or all
buildings and premises at any reasonable hour.
[Amended 4-28-1980 by Ord. No. 80-13]
C.
The Chief shall visit the house of each company of the Department
at least once each month and inspect the apparatus and equipment and
shall, whenever necessary, recommend in writing to the respective
company any improvement, reform or change deemed necessary for the
good of the service.
D.
It shall be the duty of the Chief to call out any or all companies
for practice drills whenever he deems it necessary and where he may
think it advisable, but each company shall be drilled and trained
not less than once each month. These drills and training will be so
arranged that they will include proper and efficient handling of all
appliances and apparatus, the quick handling, laying and raising of
hose, handling of streams, use of shutoff nozzles, Siamese connections,
forcible-entry tools, salvage work, lifesaving and modern methods
of extinguishment.
E.
The Deputy Chief shall aid the Chief under his direction and, in
case of his absence from or late arrival at a fire, shall assume and
perform such duties and be invested with the same power and authority
as the Chief until his arrival.
All the companies of the Fire Department of the Borough of Jenkintown
and all members of said companies on duty at fires shall render implicit
obedience to the orders of the Chief and the Deputy Chief.
[Amended 4-28-1980 by Ord. No. 80-13]
The Board of Control shall consist of the President and Vice
President of each company forming the Department and a member of Council.
This Board shall have the power to enact rules and regulations for
the conduct of the Department, the members thereof and the fire companies
composing the same, which rules and regulations when approved by the
Borough Council shall be observed by all those affected thereby.
A.
It shall be the duty of the Chief or, in his absence, the Deputy
Chief to suspend or dismiss any member of the Department for insubordination,
improper conduct, failure to obey the rules and regulations prescribed
by the Board of Control and for failure to obey the orders of the
Chief or his Deputy. Any member of any company forming the Department
suspended or dismissed by the Chief or his Deputy may appeal from
such decision to the Board of Control, whose decision shall be final.
B.
No member of any company who has been suspended or dismissed by the
Chief or Deputy Chief, when acting as Chief, shall attend further
fires or drills as a fireman until he has been reinstated by the Chief
or Deputy Chief who dismissed or suspended him. Each company forming
the Department shall so amend its bylaws regulating membership therein
that a member dismissed or suspended as aforesaid shall cease to be
a member of the company until reinstated by the Chief or his Deputy
who made the dismissal or suspension.
[Amended 4-28-1980 by Ord. No. 80-13]
It shall and may be lawful for Council to appropriate annually
to the company or companies comprising the Fire Department of the
Borough of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, such sums as in the opinion of
Council may be right and proper, that appropriation to be paid quarterly
by order regularly granted by Council upon receipt of a certificate
from the Chief that the company or companies have faithfully complied
with such rules and regulations concerning their equipment, apparatus,
discipline and efficiency as may from time to time be duly prescribed
by the Board of Control. Should the Chief refuse this certificate,
the Council shall investigate the source and reason for its being
withheld and, if any good cause is shown, shall withhold the whole
or so much of the quarterly appropriation as may be deemed proper.
[Added 6-24-2013 by Ord. No. 2013-6[1]]
A.
All volunteer members of the Independent Fire Company and the Pioneer
Fire Company, including those engaged in fire police duties, (hereafter
the "Fire Companies"), each of which fire company serves the inhabitants
of the Borough of Jenkintown, shall be considered "employees" (sic)
of the Borough, for purposes of receiving compensation pursuant to
the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act (Act of June 2, 1915,
P.L. 736, as amended), 77 P.S. § 1031(a)(1), for injuries
sustained while actively engaged in performing the following duties:
(1)
Responding to alarms, including all emergencies including fire; auto
rescue; water rescue; hazardous materials alarms; and assistance to
other municipalities (whether on an emergency scene in another municipality
or on standby at the fire company when requested by another municipality);
and all special alarms as authorized by the Fire Chief or the Officer
in Charge. For purposes of this subsection, "responding to alarms"
shall include the volunteer fire personnel's travel from and
the direct return to a fire personnel's home, place of business
or other place where he or she shall have been when he or she received
the call or alarm.
(2)
Answering any emergency calls for any purpose or riding upon the
fire apparatus which is owned or used by the Fire Companies.
(3)
Performing repair, maintenance of or other work on fire company equipment,
buildings and property.
(4)
Participating in training exercises pertaining to the operation and
certification of the fire company, including training exercises in
conjunction with fire companies in other municipalities.
(5)
Participating in Fire Prevention Week activities with fire companies
in other municipalities, when authorized by the Fire Chief or the
Officer in Charge.
(6)
Participating in fund-raising events sponsored by the Fire Companies.
(7)
Participating in parades, equipment housings and funerals for fire
personnel within the Borough of Jenkintown, and in other municipalities
when authorized by the Fire Chief or the Officer in Charge.
(8)
Regulating traffic, maintaining crowds at a fire scene or when accidents,
floods or any other emergencies require performance of such traffic
and/or crowd control.
(9)
Participating in any and all additional events approved by the home
municipality with a letter stating that the fire company is covered
either by the home municipality or the requesting municipality. Approval
of coverage from the Borough of Jenkintown will be by approval of
Jenkintown Borough Council.
B.
Nothing contained in this section shall be considered to limit in
any way the activities for which compensation is available to volunteer
fire personnel pursuant to the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation
Act (Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, as amended), as set forth in 77
P.S. § 1031(a)(1).
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also provided that its
words, phrases and provisions are not to be interpreted in a way that
results in an absurd construction of the meaning, or in a way that
causes one provision to contradict another, and further provided that
it be liberally construed to effectively carry out its purposes in
furtherance of the public health, safety, welfare and convenience.
A complete copy of the ordinance is on file in the Borough offices.
