City of Buffalo, NY
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2023-11-15
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The Charter
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Chapter C The Charter
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Article 14 Department of Fire
- The Charter
- Ch C The Charter
- Ch C Art 14 Department of Fire
- § C-14-1 Commissioner of Fire.
- § C-14-2 Appointment; Removal.
- § C-14-3 Qualifications.
- § C-14-4 Deputy Commissioners of Fire.
- § C-14-5 Duties and Powers of Department.
- § C-14-6 Government and Discipline.
- § C-14-7 Wearing of Uniform.
- § C-14-8 Entering Premises.
- § C-14-9 Arrest.
- § C-14-10 Destroying Buildings.
- § C-14-11 Fire Companies.
- § C-14-12 Solicitation Prohibited.
- Ch CDL Disposition of Charter Legislation
- The Code
- Part I, Administrative Legislation
- Ch 1 General Provisions
- Ch 6 Boards, Committees, Agencies and Commissions
- Ch 12 Ethics, Code of
- Ch 16 Finance
- Ch 24 Libraries
- Ch 27 Notice, Publication of
- Ch 30 Office Hours and Holidays
- Ch 35 Personnel Policies
- Ch 37 Police Department
- Ch 44 Seal
- Ch 46 Telecommunications, Office of
- Ch 48 Time, Official
- Ch 53 Vehicles, City-Owned
- Part II, General Legislation
- Ch 63 Aircraft
- Ch 66 Air Pollution
- Ch 69 Alcoholic Beverages
- Ch 72 Ambulances and Ambulance Drivers
- Ch 75 Amusements
- Ch 78 Animals
- Ch 81 Auctions and Auctioneers
- Ch 85 Bait Dippers
- Ch 88 Bakers and Confectioners
- Ch 91 Bicycle Paths
- Ch 92 Billiard and Pool Rooms and Bowling Alleys
- Ch 94 Boilers and Engines; Engineers
- Ch 96 Bonds and Contracts
- Ch 98 (Reserved)
- Ch 101 Buildings, Cleaning of
- Ch 103 Building Construction and Demolition; Fire Prevention
- Ch 105 (Reserved)
- Ch 107 Buildings, Moving of
- Ch 109 Buildings, Numbering of
- Ch 111 Buildings, Public
- Ch 113 Buildings, Unsafe
- Ch 116 Burials
- Ch 119 Burning, Open
- Ch 120 Bureau of Administrative Adjudication
- Ch 122 Business Identification and Registration
- Ch 129 Certificates of Occupancy
- Ch 130 Sales of Cannabis and Products Containing Cannabis
- Ch 131 Certificate of Operation
- Ch 132 Tobacco/Hookah/Vaping Establishments
- Ch 133 City Property
- Ch 137 Code Enforcement
- Ch 140 Collection Agencies
- Ch 141 Collection of Arrears
- Ch 142 Collection Boxes
- Ch 143 Consumer Electronics Installation and Repair
- Ch 144 Contractors
- Ch 150 Dances and Dance Halls
- Ch 154 Discrimination
- Ch 158 Diseases, Infectious
- Ch 159 Dentistry
- Ch 160 Domestic Partnership Registry
- Ch 161 Drugs
- Ch 165 Electricity
- Ch 167 Elevators and Conveyances
- Ch 168 Environmental Review
- Ch 169 Excavations and Quarries
- Ch 175 Fees
- Ch 180 Firearms, Arrows and Other Weapons
- Ch 183 Flags
- Ch 186 Flammable Liquids
- Ch 189 (Reserved)
- Ch 193 Food and Drugs
- Ch 194 Food Stores
- Ch 196 (Reserved)
- Ch 199 Fruits and Vegetables
- Ch 203 Fumigation
- Ch 209 Gambling
- Ch 213 Games of Chance
- Ch 216 Garbage, Rubbish and Refuse
- Ch 219 Gasoline
- Ch 222 (Reserved)
- Ch 226 Grain
- Ch 232 Handbills and Other Publications
- Ch 235 Hazardous Materials and Wastes
- Ch 238 Heating
- Ch 242 Housing Standards
- Ch 249 Inspections
- Ch 254 Junk Dealers and Pawnbrokers
- Ch 259 Laundries and Clothes Cleaners
- Ch 261 Lead-Based Paint Abatement
- Ch 263 Licenses
- Ch 264 Rental Dwelling Unit Registration
- Ch 265 Property Managers
- Ch 266 Liquefied Petroleum Gas
- Ch 269 Lodging Houses
- Ch 270 Eviction for Illegal Drug Use and Possession
- Ch 275 Markets
- Ch 277 Mortgage in Default Property Registry
- Ch 278 Motion Pictures
- Ch 281 Multiple Housing
- Ch 286 Naming of Streets, Parks and Public Buildings
- Ch 288 Natural Gas Extraction
- Ch 289 Newsstands
- Ch 293 Noise
- Ch 294 Nuisance Abatement
- Ch 295 Nuisance Party
- Ch 299 Obscenity
- Ch 302 Oil and Gas Wells
- Ch 307 Parking and Parking Lots
- Ch 309 Parks and Other Open Spaces
- Ch 313 Peace and Good Order
- Ch 316 Peddling and Soliciting
- Ch 317 Aggressive Panhandling
- Ch 319 Performers, Outdoor
- Ch 322 (Reserved)
- Ch 326 Plumbing
- Ch 330 Poles and Wires
- Ch 333 Police Shields, Use of
- Ch 337 Preservation Standards
- Ch 341 Property Maintenance
- Ch 343 Promoting General Welfare of Minors in Public Places
- Ch 345 Public Safety, Obstruction of
- Ch 352 Railroads
- Ch 356 Rat Control
- Ch 361 Records
- Ch 365 Refrigerators
- Ch 370 Restaurants
- Ch 372 Bouncers
- Ch 378 Sanitation
- Ch 383 Shortwave Broadcasts
- Ch 387 (Reserved)
- Ch 391 Slaughterhouses
- Ch 395 Smoke Detectors
- Ch 399 Smoking
- Ch 404 (Reserved)
- Ch 409 Statues and Monuments; Public Art
- Ch 413 Streets and Sidewalks
- Ch 414 Special Events
- Ch 417 Strikebreakers
- Ch 421 (Reserved)
- Ch 425 (Reserved)
- Ch 430 Swimming Pools
- Ch 431 Tax Preparers, Regulation of
- Ch 437 Taxicabs, Liveries and Sightseeing Buses
- Ch 440 Telecommunications
- Ch 441 Telephone Facilities
- Ch 442 Wireless Facilities in Public Right-Of-Way
- Ch 444 (Reserved)
- Ch 449 Tires
- Ch 452 Alcohol Advertising
- Ch 454 Tow Trucks and Motor Vehicle Booting
- Ch 459 Trailers
- Ch 463 Transient Businesses; Trade Shows and Festivals
- Ch 467 Trees, Shrubs and Plants
- Ch 475 (Reserved)
- Ch 479 Vehicles and Traffic
- Ch 483 Vending Machines
- Ch 491 Water and Water Pollution
- Ch 495 Wharves, Harbors and Bridges
- Ch 496 Unified Development Ordinance
- Ch 501 Wood and Coal
- Ch 511 (Reserved)
- Distribution Table
- Ch DT Distribution Table
- Disposition List
- Ch DL Disposition List
The commissioner of fire shall be the head of the department
of fire.
The commissioner of fire shall be appointed by the mayor, subject
to confirmation by the council, and shall be removable at the pleasure
of the mayor. On the removal without cause of a commissioner of fire,
who at the time of his or her appointment as commissioner of fire
was a member of the department of fire, he or she shall be restored
at his or her request to the rank and duty held at the time of appointment.
In the event of the death of the commissioner of fire, or a vacancy
in that office for any other cause whatsoever, the mayor shall appoint
a commissioner of fire to serve for a period not to exceed one hundred
and eighty days, which temporary appointment shall not be subject
to confirmation by the council.
The commissioner of fire shall have either (a) a degree from
an accredited college or university and at least five years experience
in fire prevention, fighting or investigation; or (b) an equivalent
of training and experience sufficient to indicate ability to perform
the duties of this position.
[Amended 6-19-2003 by L.L. No. 10-2003,[1] effective 6-26-2003; 11-16-2004 by L.L. No. 9-2004, effective 11-24-2004]
There shall be three deputy commissioners of fire in the exempt
class of the civil service, with power to act generally for and in
place of the commissioner of fire, who shall be appointed and removed
at the pleasure of the commissioner of fire and shall perform such
other and additional duties as may, from time to time, be assigned
to them by the commissioner of fire. On the removal, as hereinbefore
provided, of a deputy commissioner of fire, who, at the time of appointment
as a deputy commissioner of fire was a member of the department of
fire, he or she shall, before such removal becomes effective, be restored
at his or her request to the rank and duty held at the time of appointment.
[1]
Editor's Note: Section 3 of this local law provided that it
would take effective 7-1-2003.
The department of fire shall be charged with the power and duty
of preventing and extinguishing fires, investigating the causes of
fire and enforcing the laws of the state and the laws and ordinances
of the city enacted to prevent fires as well as responding to public
emergencies and natural disasters.
The commissioner of fire shall be charged with the power and
duty of governing and disciplining the department and the members
of the fire department and all subordinates and employees of the department,
and to that end may, from time to time, make and enforce orders, rules
and regulations not inconsistent with this act or any general law,
which orders, rules or regulations shall have the same force and effect
as if herein specially enacted. Existing rules and regulations shall
continue until changed.
Firefighters shall not wear uniforms except while on actual
duty or in going to or returning from their tour of duty. The commissioner
of fire may also authorize the wearing of the department uniform for
ceremonial purposes or limited special circumstances.
Members of the department designated in the orders, rules and
regulations of the commissioner and under the circumstances and in
the manner therein provided may at all reasonable times enter the
examine any building or premises in the performance of their duty.
Members of the department may arrest or orally direct the arrest
of any person creating disorder or interfering with the performance
of their duty at a fire.
[Amended 1-10-2006 by L.L. No. 8-2006, effective 2-8-2006]
The commissioner, any deputy commissioner or any battalion chief
or division chief on duty during or after a fire emergency or fire
related emergency may direct and cause to be torn down, or otherwise
destroyed any burning building or any other buildings which he or
she deems hazardous to the public and likely to take fire or to convey
the fire to other buildings.
The number of fire companies and the location thereof, consisting
of twenty-three engine companies and twelve hook and ladder companies
(not including the fire boat), shall be established, with power in
the commissioner of fire, with the approval of the common council,
to add to or diminish the number thereof or relocate said companies
by order, rule or regulation.
No member of the department shall circulate subscription papers,
sell tickets or collect money or solicit donations, prizes or gifts
for charitable or any other purposes, except as permitted by ordinance.
Any such member who shall violate any of the provisions of this section
shall be subject to dismissal.
