[Amended 10-16-1995 by Ord. No. 95-15]
The Fire Department shall consist of four volunteer fire companies, for the protection of life and property in the city against fire.[2]
[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Salem as Ch. IV of the 1975 Municipal Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Added 10-16-1995 by Ord. No. 95-15]
The Council shall annually appoint a committee from its membership, of such number as it shall designate, to oversee the Fire Department.
The fire companies shall be governed by the bylaws, rules and regulations previously adopted by said companies, which are not inconsistent with any provision of this chapter.
[Added 12-6-2010 by Ord. No. 10-10]
The Fire Department is authorized to bill and recover costs associated with Fire Department response from the liable party. All fees so recovered shall be maintained by the Fire Department and used for its general purposes. Said fees may be billed directly by the Fire Department or by a professional agency engaged in the business of emergency response billing, provided that the agreement with any such professional agency shall be subject to the approval of the Council. The Fire Department shall include in its monthly report to the Mayor and Council a detail of all billing and receipts under the program. The fees to be charged by the Fire Department shall not exceed the following:
A.
Structure fires: fires in any structure substantial enough to cause the Fire Department to use tools and an extinguishing agent to control and extinguish the fire. Examples of such structure fires include, but are not limited to, dwellings, apartments, apartment complexes, commercial, industrial, and outbuildings.
B.
Vehicles. Vehicle fires and crashes substantial enough to cause the Fire Department to use tools and skill (or extinguishing agent) to bring the incident under control: fee of $750 per vehicle.
C.
Alarm systems. After the third activation in a calendar year, at the same address and same zone, at which the cause was anything other than an actual fire: fee of $500.
D.
Other: any condition for which the Fire Department has responded, notified the property owner/manager of the degraded condition, and the Fire Department has responded one additional time for the same uncorrected condition. The Fire Department will bill upon the third response and each consecutive response thereafter: fee of $500.
E.
In the event that a fire is deemed to have occurred as a result of negligence of a third-party; gross negligence; intentional misconduct; or involves hazardous materials response; then, in addition to any fees set forth above, the Fire Department may bill for actual costs incurred and an hourly rate (not in excess of $50 per hour) for all personnel involved in the response.
The admission to membership shall be governed by the bylaws, rules and regulations previously adopted by said companies. Said members shall serve with or without pay as the Fire Chief shall determine, at his discretion for special duty.
[Amended 11-13-1975 by Ord. No. 7522]
A.
Each company shall elect biannually from the active firemen Fire Commissioners for the purpose of confirming four Battalion Chiefs and the election of the Chief of the Fire Department. Five Fire Commissioners shall be elected from each of three companies of the fire companies, and four Fire Commissioners shall be elected from the fourth fire company. The burden of having four Fire Commissioners shall be rotated among the fire companies, each company having assumed the burden for a two-year period, until the next election of Fire Commissioners. Number 2 Company (Liberty) shall have four Commissioners upon adoption of this Article, until December 31, 1975; No. 3 Company (Washington) shall have four Commissioners for the calendar years 1976 and 1977; No. 4 Company (North Bend) shall have four Commissioners and the calendar years 1978 and 1979; and No. 1 Company (Union) shall have four Commissioners for the years 1980 and 1981; thereafter the companies shall alternate on a sequential basis.
B.
The Chief of the Fire Department and the Battalion Chiefs shall serve for two years, two Battalion Chiefs being elected every year for two-year terms.
C.
The election of the Fire Department Chief and the Battalion Chiefs by the Fire Commissioners shall be reported to the Mayor and Council and confirmed by them.
D.
The Fire Chief shall report to and be subject to the supervision of the committee of the Council of the City of Salem responsible for fire activities.
E.
Nothing in this section shall prohibit a person from serving as Chief of the Fire Department of the City of Salem for any limited number of consecutive terms.
[Added 6-7-1991 by Ord. No. 9114]
All fire apparatus and equipment purchased by the Council shall be the property of the City of Salem for use by the Fire Department.
A.
The Fire Chief and Battalion Chiefs shall have the control and management of the Fire Department, its officers and men. They shall have power to adopt such rules and regulations for their government as deemed necessary, and the Chief and Battalion Chiefs and committee shall have the control and management of the public property now pertaining to the Fire Departments of said city, except real property, and shall from time to time, in their sound discretion, regulate the expenditure of every kind of the department, provided that the same shall first be presented by said committee and Chiefs to the Council and by a majority of said Council approved.
B.
The Battalion Chief who shall be first at any fire, shall have sole direction and control of the firemen, hose, trucks, vehicles and apparatus of the Department during the existence of such fire; provided, always, that he shall be subject to and shall obey and cause to be obeyed by the firemen under his direction the lawful authority of the Police Department in case of riot or other public disturbance and for the purpose of preventing accidents at the fire and the preservation of property and the public peace. Said Fire Chief and the Battalion Chiefs shall, during the existence of a fire, be clothed with the authority of a police officer of said city and shall have power to stretch a rope and keep bystanders and other unauthorized persons outside of the line thereof. The Fire Chief shall designate an Acting Fire Chief during any period that he may deem necessary.
[Amended 10-16-1995 by Ord. No. 95-15]
The Fire Chief shall, on a monthly basis, report to the Mayor and Council the condition of the Department and the matters pertaining thereto of public interest and said report to exhibit a particular statement of all fires and fire alarms which have occurred in said city during the preceding month, together with the cause and origin of all such fires, as far as the same shall have been ascertained. It shall also exhibit a particular statement of all losses caused by such fires.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Original Sections 4:10 through 4:15, regarding inspections and enforcement procedures and explosives, flammable materials and exposed fires and penalties, and Art. II, Fire Prevention Code, which immediately followed this section, were deleted 10-16-1995 by Ord. No. 95-15. Also Ord. No. 8522, adopted 9-9-1985, regarding local enforcement of the Uniform Fire Safety Code, which was to be included following these provisions, was deleted 10-16-1995 by Ord. No. 95-15. Local enforcement of the Uniform Fire Safety Code in the City, and any inspections thereunder, are handled directly by the State of New Jersey.