There is hereby created within Lower Allen Township, Cumberland
County, Pennsylvania, a Division of Fire Rescue Services which shall
be responsible for the coordination of services rendered by the Lower
Allen Fire Company No. 1, the Lisburn Community Fire Company, and
any successor agency providing emergency fire rescue services to the
Township as designated by resolution of the Lower Allen Township Board
of Commissioners.
The Board of Commissioners may appoint a Chief of DFRS who is
the chief operations officer of the Division. The Chief of DFRS shall
report to the Director of Public Safety or his/her designee.
The Chief of DFRS shall have all powers and duties assigned
to him/her by the Director of Public Safety and pursuant to Section
1502.7 of the 2020 First Class Township Code, provided that nothing
contained herein shall affect the corporate status of LAFC or LCFC
as independent, nonprofit corporate entities as they continue to meet
the responsibilities of recruiting, volunteer staffing, retention,
and training qualified members to support the mission of the Division
of Fire Rescue Services. The Chief of DFRS duties may include:
A. The Chief of DFRS shall be responsible for the fire apparatus, program
delivery, conduct, training, and operations, including incident command
at fire rescue emergency incidents, when determined necessary by the
Chief of DFRS, of all fire rescue service operations in the Township
under the direction of the Public Safety Director.
B. The Chief of DFRS shall be responsible for developing and administering
the fire operations and capital budgets, under the direction of the
Public Safety Director, for all fire rescue related services and shall
maintain fiscal management of such budget line items, subject to the
financial practices of the Township, including funds budgeted for
the fire operations of LAFC and LCFC.
C. The Chief of DFRS will assess community hazards and risks, establish
Division performance goals, and recommend response deployment plans
that will ensure a safe and effective force for fire suppression,
rescue services, and specialty response situations. This will include
the recommendation of response plans (box cards) to be submitted to
the Public Safety Director for approval, as needed. Reports on these
criteria shall be made as determined by the Public Safety Director.
D. The Chief of DFRS will develop programs to track emergency incident
responses to determine response effectiveness of Township fire resources,
staffing, and operational response systems; and reported on a regular
basis as determined by the Public Safety Director. This will include
assessing volunteer resources, Township resources, and automatic/mutual
aid resources as deemed necessary by the Public Safety Director.
E. The Chief of DFRS may recommend and establish such programs or activities
deemed necessary to meet emergency response metric goals and/or to
improve volunteer response to emergency incidents.
F. The Chief of DFRS will work with LAFC and LCFC to encourage and assist
in the recruitment and retention of members.
G. The Chief of DFRS will be responsible for developing and administering
the selection of all fire rescue officers that respond to fire rescue
incidents and perform command and control functions. All DFRS Chief
Officers will be appointed by the Board of Commissioners. Company
Level Officers, as needed, may be appointed by the Public Safety Director,
with the approval of the Township Manager.
H. The Chief of DFRS in consultation with the Public Safety Director
will develop and enforce standard operating guidelines (SOGs), standard
operating procedures (SOPs), general and special orders, rules, regulations,
procedures, and practices for Fire Rescue administration and operations
within the Township which shall be binding on operations of LAFC and
LCFC. These policy documents shall be issued under the signature and
authority of the Lower Allen Township Public Safety Director.
I. To the extent other regulations promulgated by LAFC and LCFC are
inconsistent with the SOGs, SOPs, orders, rules, regulations, procedures
or practices, the Chief of DFRS shall engage the LAFC Executive Officers
and LCFC Executive Board to resolve the differences. In the event
DFRS and LAFC, or LCFC, are unable to resolve the differences, the
Public Safety Director, or their designee, shall be engaged to resolve
the differences.
J. The Chief of DFRS shall work collaboratively with the Public Safety
Director to develop and implement progressive discipline procedures,
including appeals processes for violations of DFRS's SOGs, SOPs,
orders, rules, regulations and/or practices, which shall include the
ability of identified personnel to suspend LAFC or LCFC fire members
charged with an infraction. Discipline shall be imposed by the Public
Safety Director in consultation with the Township Manager and may
include temporary or permanent suspension from use of any Township
property, facilities, equipment, or any fire rescue related apparatus.
K. The Chief of DFRS, or appointed representative(s), will be responsible
for developing and administering a training program that meets the
training needs of all staff and volunteers to ensure qualified fire
rescue personnel to perform essential operational skills.
L. The Chief of DFRS will be responsible for determining qualifications
and developing an approval process for all fire rescue personnel,
under the direction of the Public Safety Director, who respond to
fire rescue incidents on Township owned fire apparatus; and perform
emergency and nonemergency fire rescue functions.
M. The Chief of DFRS, or appointed representative, will be responsible
for developing and administering a fire prevention and inspection
program that identifies existing hazards to life and property, providing
explanations on how to correct the hazard(s) and maintain compliance
with the Fire Code, and providing Fire and Life Safety education to
the community at large to reduce the occurrence of fires and life
safety hazards in the Township.
The Lower Allen Fire Company (LAFC) and the Lisburn Community
Fire Company (LCFC), organized and existing in Lower Allen Township,
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, are hereby designated as the officially
recognized volunteer fire companies for the Township consistent with
the roles, responsibilities, parameters, authorities, and limitations
of this chapter.
In addition to participating in the activities of the fire company
as authorized above, or in going to or returning from any activity,
the officers, members, and fire police of LAFC and LCFC are also authorized
to do the following things:
A. Engage with Township resources in any type of drill, training, ceremony,
practice, test, or parade, when duly called for or authorized by the
Chief of DFRS pursuant to the SOGs or other orders.
B. Participate with Township resources in parades, ceremonies, conferences,
or trade shows, provided that the participation in each ancillary
event is approved in advance by the Chief of DFRS pursuant to the
SOGs or other orders and to engage in the foregoing ancillary activities
when the activities are additionally approved by the Chief of DFRS.
C. The Chief of DFRS is to be notified of any functions or activities
that would have an effect on fire protection coverage and the fire
company is to ensure the activity does not adversely impact the fire
protection coverage in the Township.
The Township shall own and be responsible for real property
and grounds, and maintenance of all real property and buildings utilized
by LAFC, including Rupp Avenue Station 2 and the Municipal Services
Center Station 1, and any future facilities that may be constructed
and owned by the Township for the nonexclusive use by LAFC and LCFC
(otherwise known as the "facilities"). The Township may, at its sole
discretion, locate and maintain within the facilities, the offices
of the DFRS Chief, and such subordinate DFRS positions as the Township
shall establish. Further, the Township may, at its sole discretion,
locate and maintain within the facilities such equipment and personnel
of other organizations as the Township deems necessary including,
but not limited to, Lower Allen Township Emergency Medical Services,
Inc. ("LAEMS"). The LAFC's and LCFC's use of the facilities
shall be for the housing of fire equipment, fire apparatus, conducting
LAFC and LCFC business and training sessions, and to support the activities
of LAFC, LCFC, and the DFRS. The facilities may be used by members
of the LAFC and LCFC with the prior approval of the DFRS Chief.
Any prior agreement for fire and emergency services between LAFC, LCFC, and previously extended by mutual agreement, is hereby terminated. The provisions of this Chapter
21 of the Lower Allen Township Codified Ordinances shall govern the rules, regulations, and relationship of LAFC, LCFC, and the Township.
If any chapter, section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, or
phrase of this chapter is for any reason declared invalid by a court
of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity
of the chapter as a whole or any section or part thereof other than
the section or part thereof so declared to be invalid.
Any ordinance, chapter, section, subsection, paragraph, sentence,
or phrase of any ordinance conflicting with the provisions of this
chapter shall and the same is hereby repealed to the extent of such
conflict.