The Fire Department organized under the title of "Kronenwetter Fire Department" is hereby officially recognized as a Department of the Village, and the duty of firefighting and the prevention of fires in the Village is delegated to such Department. Its organization and internal regulation shall be governed by the provisions of Wisconsin Administrative Code Chapters SPS 330 and SPS 332, this chapter and by such bylaws adopted by the Department as are approved by the Village Board, except as is otherwise provided by law and ordinance.

Subject to the approval of the Village Board and, as required pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 62.13, the Police and Fire Commission, the Fire Department, upon a majority vote of the officers of the Department, is hereby authorized and directed to adopt standard operating guidelines and amendments thereto for the control, management, government and regulation of the business and proceedings of the Department. For this section, the officers shall consist of the Fire Chief, Deputy Chief, Captains, Lieutenants and Secretary-Treasurer. These standard operating guidelines and any approved amendments shall be kept on file with the Village Clerk and shall be available during normal business hours for review. Where the standard operating guidelines of the Department are in conflict with the Village of Kronenwetter Employee Handbook, the Village of Kronenwetter Employee Handbook shall take precedence over the standard operating guidelines.

The Fire Department shall consist of one Fire Chief, one Assistant Fire Chief, Captains, Lieutenants, a Secretary-Treasurer, and as many drivers and firefighters as the Fire Chief shall recommend to the Village Board. The Village Board shall approve the number of each named position within the Department. At no time shall the Department consist of fewer than 22 active members.

Members who resign from the Department after 10 years of continuous service shall become honorary members of the Department.

All resignations from the Department must be submitted, in writing, to the Chief and the Police and Fire Commission.

A vacancy in the office of the Fire Chief shall be temporarily filled by the Assistant Fire Chief, until a new Fire Chief is appointed pursuant to § 66-7N of the Code.

No member shall respond to a Department alert if he or she is under the influence of an intoxicant, a controlled substance or any combination of an intoxicant and a controlled substance or under the influence of any other drug to a degree which renders him or her incapable of safely or legally driving or incapable of safely and competently performing his or her duties, or the person has a detectable amount of a restricted controlled substance in his or her blood, or the person has a prohibited alcohol concentration. Members shall not respond to emergency calls after consuming any intoxicating substance or drugs to the extent that evidence of such consumption is apparent or if their ability to perform duty is impaired. Members shall not at any time be under the influence of intoxicants or drugs while on duty. Members shall not respond to any emergency alarm or report to the Fire Department while having an alcohol concentration above 0.0. If a member is suspected of violating this provision, a breath test may be ordered on site or the member taken for a blood test as directed by the Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief or highest ranking member in charge. Dependent on the result of such testing, the member may be subject to disciplinary action by the Fire Chief as stated in § 66-6 of this Code.

Each member of the Department shall be held personally responsible for all Department equipment in the member's possession.

All new members after appointment must serve a probationary period of 24 months. Successful completion of this probationary period may be extended by the Fire Chief if it is to the advantage of the Fire Department. During this probationary period, it is intended that the new member obtain such training as is required by state statute for full active membership. During the probationary period, the applicant may be dismissed at any time without cause. If, at the end of this period, the applicant has completed the required training and shows satisfactory proficiency in meetings, call response and competence, as determined by the Fire Chief, the Fire Chief shall submit notice of such completion to the Kronenwetter Police and Fire Commission in writing. Upon approval of the Kronenwetter Police and Fire Commission, he/she shall then become a full member of the Department.

The annual meeting of the Department shall be held on a regular training night in January of each year.

Any active member who fails to attend three consecutive meetings or who fails to attend at least 50% of all fires in any year shall be referred to the Police and Fire Commission for disciplinary action, pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 62.13(5)(c), unless such member is excused by the Chief.

Any Fire Department member who resigns or is removed from the Department shall return to the Chief of the Fire Department, upon resignation or removal, all Department property in his/her care, including badges, keys and monitoring equipment.

A leave of absence may be granted by the Chief for reasons acceptable to the Chief.

During or after an alert, no member may return to quarters (leave) until the member has been personally dismissed by the Chief, Assistant Chief, or the officer in charge.

The Fire Chief shall reside in the Village unless a specific exception is requested by the Chief and approved by the Village Board.

All purchases shall be approved, in advance, by the Chief or the Assistant Chief.

Any member of the Fire Department may operate his or her privately owned motor vehicle as an authorized emergency vehicle, as that phrase is defined in Wis. Stats. § 340.01, while en route to a fire or on an emergency call pursuant to the orders of the Chief or other commanding officer. This shall include the right to use a red light and siren while en route to a fire call or an emergency call, or while en route to a fire or an emergency.

All members of the Fire Department who are operating authorized emergency vehicles shall:

These guidelines assume efficient response of members and apparatus to the scene of an emergency without damage to public or private property, or injury or death to civilians or Fire Department members. All members shall use good judgment to ensure that safety is not sacrificed in order to increase the speed of the response.

The driver of each vehicle bears full responsibility for adherence to these guidelines.

All members must proceed toward the fire station until informed that all Department vehicles have left the fire stations.

All members must wear personal protective equipment (PPE) when responding to an alarm.

Use of red light and siren.

Stop signs. All stop signs must be obeyed while en route to an alarm.

The authorization to exceed the maximum speed limit by 15 miles per hour in § 66-4P(4) shall apply only to "Code 1 Urgent" responses. All other responses shall be made in strict accordance with the posted or statutory pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 346.57, speed limits.

Departure order.

Reduced response. The first officer to arrive at the emergency scene shall evaluate the need for other responding equipment. Whenever reasonable, other responding equipment will be advised to continue in a nonemergency mode or to return to the station.

Recommended setup at scene (IC must use good judgment):

I-39 Parking.

In this section:

The Fire Chief shall have authority to issue disciplinary actions of a Level 1 or Level 2 reprimand to any Fire Department employee that violates any of the Village of Kronenwetter Fire Department standard operating guidelines, or any rules spelled out within the Village of Kronenwetter Employee Handbook, or any other applicable rules of the Department. The Village Administrator shall have authority to issue disciplinary actions of a Level 1 or Level 2 reprimand to the Fire Chief.

Disciplinary action in the Department against a subordinate, that shall result in the demotion, suspension or dismissal of an employee, shall be handled as that term is defined in Wis. Stats. § 62.13(5), and shall occur only by utilizing the procedure set forth in Wis. Stats. § 62.13(5), relating to disciplinary action against subordinates. In applying that procedure with respect to the Chief of the Fire Department, the term "subordinate," for the purpose of this section, shall be construed to mean "the Chief of the Fire Department": and wherever the word "Chief" is used in Wis. Stats. § 62.13(5), the words "President of the Police and Fire Commission" shall be substituted for the purpose of this section.

The Fire Chief shall have the general supervision of the Fire Department, which supervision shall be subject to and not in conflict with this chapter and the standard operating guidelines of the Department.

It shall be the duty of the Fire Chief to preside at all meetings of the Department, to call special meetings, to preserve order, to decide all points of order that may arise, and to enforce a rigid observance of this chapter, the Village of Kronenwetter Employee Handbook, all other adopted Village policies, and the Village of Kronenwetter Fire Department standard operating guidelines.

It shall be the duty of the Chief to be present at all fires, and in absence of the Chief, the Assistant Chief shall so act, and shall have complete control of the same, and direct the action of the Department as the members arrive at a fire, and observe that every member does his or her duty, and grant leaves of absence at a fire when the Chief may deem it proper, and to see that the fire apparatus is kept in proper condition at all times.

The Fire Chief shall have the power to discipline or demote any member of the Fire Department upon good cause as spelled out in § 66-6 of this Code.

It shall be the duty of the Fire Chief to submit to the Village Board, and at such times as the Village Board or the Commission requests, report(s) relating to conditions of the various pieces of apparatus; the number of fires occurring since the date of same and loss occasioned thereby; the total number of active members in the Department; and resignations and/or removals from the Department. The Fire Chief shall also report to the Village Board the drill and training program(s) of the Department, together with other pertinent information, including recommendations of such improvements as the Fire Chief deems proper and necessary for the operation of the Department.

The Chief shall enforce all fire prevention ordinances of the Village and state laws and regulations pertaining to fire prevention, and shall keep citizens informed on fire prevention methods, and on the activities of the Department.

The Chief shall keep a record of every fire to which the Department was called. The fire record shall contain the locality of the fire, time alarm was received, cause of fire, time fire was extinguished, names of firefighters responding and general remarks.

The Chief shall keep an inventory of all apparatus and equipment and an inventory of all hose, showing dates and results of test on each length, which shall be individually numbered.

The Chief shall perform such other duties as are usually incumbent on the commanding officer of the Fire Department.

The Fire Chief shall maintain all apparatus and equipment used by the Fire Department under the guidelines laid out by the Village Administrator and shall be responsible for its proper maintenance, and emergency repairs may be authorized by the Chief.

It shall be the duty of the Chief to drill and train at least two drills per month. It shall be the duty of the Chief to arrange the drills and training so that they will include the proper and efficient use of all appliances and apparatus.

The Chief shall designate the members as laddermen and nozzlemen in such number as the Chief may determine.

During each year, the Fire Chief shall work with the Village Treasurer to conduct an audit of the books of the Department.

Appointment/disciplinary action.

The Chief of the Fire Department shall appoint subordinates, subject to the approval of the Police and Fire Commission. Such appointment shall be made by promotion, when this can be done with advantage; otherwise, from the eligibility list provided by examination and approval by the Police and Fire Commission. Such list shall be determined as provided in Wis. Stats. § 62.13(4).

The Assistant Chief of the Fire Department shall report to the Chief at fires and assist the Chief in the discharge of the Chief's duties.

In the absence of the Chief, the Assistant Chief shall officiate in the capacity of the Chief.

The Assistant Chief, in the absence of the Chief, shall preside at all meetings and shall appoint all committees called for at a meeting at which the Assistant Chief may preside.

The Assistant Chief shall be responsible to see that the hoses are placed on the engine and that all Department equipment is returned to its proper place on the apparatus, and the Assistant Chief shall require that the rules for the care and management of the apparatus are obeyed.

The Assistant Chief shall be responsible to see that, on returning from a fire, wet hoses shall be removed from the truck and placed in the drying tower and that the truck be reloaded with dry hoses, if such are available.

The Assistant Chief shall make sure after each fire that all equipment is ready for use at another fire.

It shall be the duty of the Senior Captain of the Fire Department, in case the Chief and Assistant Chief are absent, to take charge of all fires and meetings.

It shall be the duty of all other Captains to assist the Chief and Assistant Chief in all these duties.

It shall be the duty of the Secretary-Treasurer of the Fire Department to keep the minutes of all meetings, handle all Department correspondence, keep a register of the names of all the members of the Fire Department, issue all notices, collect money due the Department and give them to the Village Treasurer.

The Secretary-Treasurer shall, if possible, give each member at least seven days' notice of any special meetings.[1]

The mechanics of the Fire Department shall be charged with the duty of maintaining all the fire-fighting apparatus of the Department in good condition and ready for immediate service.

It shall be the duty of the mechanics to make a weekly inspection of the apparatus, to check tires, batteries and any other features which require attention.

After each fire, it shall be the duty of the mechanics to inspect all trucks, and also to see that the trucks are filled with gas and oil.

It is the duty of the mechanics to report to the Assistant Chief any damage or broken parts on the equipment.

There shall be at least two Fire Inspectors in the Fire Department.

It shall be their duty to inspect in January and July of each year all buildings (in accordance with state statutes) within the Village and other area under contract, for the purpose of noting and causing to be corrected any condition liable to cause fire.

The Inspectors shall also investigate and inspect the storage and handling of inflammable liquids within the Village.

It shall be the duty of Fire Inspectors to keep a written record of each property inspected, which shall conform to the requirements of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission, and shall make reports of inspections as required by the state statutes.

Whenever or wherever in the Village any inspection by the Fire Inspectors reveals a fire hazard, the Inspectors are hereby invested with authority to serve notice, in writing, upon the owner of the property, giving the owner reasonable time in which to remove the fire hazard. If the fire hazard is not removed within the time allowed, it shall be deemed a nuisance, and the Fire Inspector is authorized to have the same removed by the Village, and the cost of such removal shall be recovered in an action by the Village against the owner of the property.

No person shall deny the Fire Inspectors a free access to any property, excepting only the interior of private dwellings, within the Village at any reasonable time for the purpose of making fire inspections. No person shall hinder or obstruct the Fire Inspectors in the performance of this duty, or refuse to observe any lawful direction given by them.

It will be the Fire Inspectors' responsibility to attend and complete the training code seminar programs that are presented by the State Department of Safety and Professional Services.

The Chief of the Fire Department or the Assistant Chief or officers in command at any fire are hereby vested with full and complete police authority at any fire. Any officer or firefighter in charge may cause the arrest of any person failing to give the right-of-way to any Fire Department equipment in responding to a fire. This subsection does not apply to any firefighter's personal vehicle.

The Fire Chief or firefighter in charge may prescribe certain limits in the vicinity of any fire, within which no person, except firefighters and police officers and those admitted by order of any officer, shall enter. The Fire Chief shall have the power to cause the removal of any property whenever it shall become necessary for the preservation of such property from fire, to prevent the spreading of fire or to protect the adjoining property. During the progress of any fire, the Fire Chief shall have the power to order removal or destruction of any property necessary to prevent further spread of the fire. The Fire Chief shall also have the power to cause the removal of all wires and the turning off of all electricity or other services where the same impedes the work of the Department during the progress of a fire.

It shall be lawful for any firefighter, while acting under the direction of the Chief or officer in command, to enter upon the premises adjacent to or in the vicinity of any building or other property then on fire for the purpose of extinguishing such fire. Any person who shall hinder, resist or obstruct any firefighter in the discharge of his or her duty shall be deemed guilty of resisting a firefighter in the discharge of his or her duty.