The Board of Trustees is authorized to regulate
and determine the number of fire companies in the Fire Department,
and the number of men in each company, and to make any regulations
covering the same.
Whenever any fire company shall recommend to
the Board of Trustees the name of any person for membership in such
fire company, or shall recommend that the name of any member thereof
is stricken from the rolls of the Fire Department by reason of expulsion
from any fire company, final action thereon must be taken within 60
days after the submission of such recommendation.
[Amended 8-3-1999 by L.L. No. 1-1999]
The Trustees shall procure fire engines and
other apparatus used in the extinguishment of fire and shall have
charge and control of the same and shall provide a fit and secure
enginehouse or other places for keeping the same. The members of the
several engine, hook and ladder, hose and other fire companies in
the Village, when organized in pursuance to this Charter and under
the provisions of Chapter 343 of the Laws of 1883, entitled "An act
to incorporate the fire department of the Village of Ossining," and
the acts amendatory thereof, shall have power to elect a Fire Chief
and two Assistant Fire Chiefs for a term of two years; such election
to be held at times and in such manner as the Trustees may prescribe
by resolution or local law; the Fire Chief and, in his or her absence,
the Assistant Fire Chiefs, shall at all fires have exclusive charge,
direction and control of the fire companies and all apparatus appertaining
thereto in the Village, and at all other times said Fire Department
shall be under the direction of said Fire Chief, subject, however,
to the bylaws, orders and directions of the Board of Trustees of said
Village; and the Board of Trustees shall have power to remove said
Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief for any misconduct in office,
after specifications of such misconduct shall have been made, in writing,
and served upon them, and they shall have 10 days' notice to be heard
before said Trustees in their defense, which removal shall be by resolution
of the Board of Trustees, which shall be entered in the minutes of
their proceedings and served upon the persons so removed; and after
such removal, it shall be the duty of the Clerk to give six days'
notice of a new election to fill the vacancy occasioned by such removal,
and the person elected in pursuance of such notice shall fill the
office during the unexpired term of the person so removed.
The Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief may
file with the Board of Trustees written charges against any member
or officer of the Fire Department for insubordination, use of improper
language toward a superior officer or conduct prejudicial to the good
of the Fire Department while on active duty at a fire, inspection
or parade of the department. The Board of Trustees shall serve upon
the person against whom the charges are filed a copy thereof and 10
days' notice, in writing, that the Board will meet at a time and place
therein specified to determine the truth of such charges and, pursuant
to such notice, shall meet and hear the testimony of both parties
and make their findings thereon. In the event that the Board of Trustees
shall determine that such charges have been sustained, the Board of
Trustees shall expel such person from membership in the Fire Department
or suspend his or her membership for such time as it shall deem proper.
The Mayor and Trustees of the Village shall
have power to investigate or cause to be investigated any fires occurring
in the Village whenever it shall appear, by request of any of the
Trustees or other person, in writing, to the Mayor or Board of Trustees,
that there is ground to suspect or believe that any building within
the corporate limits of the Village has been maliciously set on fire
or attempted to be set on fire, said Mayor shall proceed to investigate
the same, and for such purpose he or she shall possess all the powers
conferred upon the sheriff, deputy sheriff or coroner by law relating
to the investigation of fires.
The Trustees shall have the power to prevent
the dangerous construction and condition of chimneys, fireplaces,
hearths, stoves and stovepipes, ovens, boilers and apparatus used
in any building or manufactory and cause the same to be removed or
to be placed in a safe condition, when considered dangerous, and to
prevent the deposit of ashes in unsafe places; to authorize the fire
wardens or other officers of the Village to keep away from the vicinity
of any fire all idle or vicious persons and to compel all persons
to aid in the extinguishment of fires and the preservation of property
exposed to damage thereat, and generally to establish such regulations
for the prevention or extinguishment of fires as they deem expedient,
and to compel the owners of premises to keep the same safe from accidental
fires.
The Trustees of the Village and the Fire Chief
and Assistant Fire Chiefs of the Fire Department shall be fire wardens,
and the Board of Trustees shall have the power from time to time to
appoint such other fire wardens as they deem necessary, and to prescribe
their duties and powers, not inconsistent with this Charter.
The Trustees of the Village and the Fire Chief
and Assistant Fire Chief shall have power to enter and the Board of
Trustees may authorize others to enter at any time when it shall be
necessary to do so any building in said Village in which there shall
be a fireplace, chimney, stove or pipe or where any inflammable or
combustible material or substance shall be kept for the purpose of
examining the condition of the same and to make such regulations in
regard thereto as a proper security against fire shall, in their judgment,
require.
The firemen enrolled as members of the Fire
Department of the Village of Ossining shall, during their term of
service as such, be exempted from service as jurors and in the militia,
except in case of war, invasion or insurrection; and after a service
of five years as such firemen, they and each of them shall thereafter
be exempt from such jury or militia duty, except as aforesaid; provided
however, that to entitle any such fireman to an exempt certificate,
such fireman must have performed at least 55% fire duty. The name
of each fireman so enrolled shall be registered with the Clerk of
the Village. Certificates of exemption provided for by this section
shall be in the form prescribed by Article 10 of the General Municipal
Law. A member of the Fire Department who removes from the Village
shall be allowed, as part of a full term, the time he or she has served
continuously as fireman therein, if, within three months thereafter,
he or she becomes a member of the Fire Department of another Village
or city, and upon completing a full term, shall be entitled to all
the privileges and exemptions thereby secured to firemen.
