[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Board of the Village of Blanchardville as Ch. 5 of the 2003 Municipal Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended 4-4-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-006]
The Department shall be known as the "Village of Blanchardville Volunteer Fire Department" and shall consist of the Fire Chief, an Assistant Chief, the Director of EMS, as well as one Captain and one Lieutenant for each company, and such subordinates as may be authorized by the Village Board or Public Safety Committee; provided that at no time shall consist of fewer than 20 active members.
[Amended 4-4-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-006]
A. 
Fire Chief. See § 65-3 of this Code.
B. 
Other officers, subordinates: appointed by the Fire Chief or EMS Director as appropriate in accordance with Department bylaws.
[Amended 4-4-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-006]
A. 
The Department shall be governed by the bylaws of the Department, Village ordinances and resolutions, and the Wisconsin Statues. Bylaws adopted by the Department membership shall not be operative until approved by the Public Safety Committee.
B. 
The Fire Chief is the presiding officer and shall preserve order over matters involving fire.
C. 
The EMS Director is the presiding officer for the Ambulance Service but shall consult with the Fire Chief on matters affecting the BFVD.
[Amended 2-3-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-01]
A. 
General Department funds.
(1) 
The Fire Chief shall file with the Village Clerk-Treasurer, by September 1 of each year, a detailed estimate of the appropriations needed for the conduct of the Department during the ensuing fiscal year.
(2) 
The Fire Chief shall file with the Village Clerk-Treasurer, by January 31 of each year, an annual report of the income and expenditures of the Fire Department and Ambulance Service for the previous fiscal year. The Clerk-Treasurer shall submit such annual report to the Village Board no later than February 15 of each year for the previous fiscal year.
B. 
Department volunteer funds.
(1) 
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code, and pursuant to § 66.0608, Wis. Stats., the Village Board does hereby authorize and direct the creation and maintenance of volunteer funds of the Blanchardville Fire Department, including the Blanchardville Ambulance Service.
(2) 
Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
AMBULANCE VOLUNTEER FUNDS
Funds of the Blanchardville Ambulance Service that are raised by its members, by volunteers, or by donations to the ambulance service for the benefit of the organization.
FIRE DEPARTMENT VOLUNTEER FUNDS
Funds of the Fire Department that are raised by its members, by volunteers, or by donations to the Fire Department, for the benefit of the Blanchardville Fire Department.
(3) 
All Ambulance volunteer funds and Fire Department volunteer funds shall remain the property of the Village of Blanchardville, and shall be managed, invested, and disbursed in accordance with this chapter. All funds subject to this chapter shall be maintained in public depositories as defined by § 34.01(5), Wis. Stats.
(4) 
The Blanchardville Fire Department shall open and maintain a checking account and such savings account(s), including certificates of deposits, as its members determine appropriate for the purpose of holding all Fire Department volunteer funds and Ambulance volunteer funds. Such funds may be used for any of the following purposes:
(a) 
Funding social expenditures, including donations to community organizations as determined appropriate by the Fire Department.
(b) 
Purchase of fire, rescue, and ambulance equipment of any kind, or contribute to the purchase of the same, as the Fire Department deems appropriate.
(c) 
Provide training to the volunteer members of the Fire Department and Ambulance Service as the Fire Department deems appropriate.
(d) 
Such other purposes as the Fire Department deems appropriate; subject, however, to prior approval by the Village Board.
(5) 
The Fire Department and Ambulance Service shall provide the Village Clerk-Treasurer with a copy of the annual accounting of the income, expenses, and funds on hand for all Fire Department volunteer funds and Ambulance volunteer funds, in a form acceptable to the Village Board, the same to be provided to the Village Clerk-Treasurer no later than January 31 for the previous fiscal year. The Village Clerk-Treasurer shall provide copies of the reports to the Village Board by February 15 of each year for the previous fiscal year.
(6) 
All volunteer funds managed by the Fire Department and Ambulance Service shall require the signature of a person or persons designated by the Fire Department and Ambulance Service, the names of which shall be provided to the Village Clerk-Treasurer, and updated as changes occur.
A. 
General supervision. The Chief shall have the general supervision of the Department, which supervision shall be subject to and not conflict with this chapter and the bylaws of the Department. He shall be responsible for the safety of the members of the Department. He shall also obey all lawful written orders of the Village President and the Village Board.
B. 
Presiding officer. The Chief, or, in his absence, the highest ranking officer, shall preside at all meetings of the Department, call special meetings, preserve order, decide all points of order that may arise, and enforce the provisions of this chapter and the bylaws.
C. 
Command of firefighting operations. The Chief shall be present at all fires, if possible, and have complete command and entire responsibility for all firefighting operations, plan the control of the same, direct the action of the Department when it arrives at a fire, observe that the Department does its duty, grant leaves of absence at a fire when he may deem it proper, and see that the fire apparatus is kept in proper condition at all times.
D. 
Disciplinary action. The Fire Chief shall have the power to suspend, demote, expel or otherwise discipline members of the Department, subject to appeal to the Village Board.
E. 
Reports to the Village Board. The Chief shall submit a written report to the Village Board not later than February 1 of each year, and at such times as he deems desirable, relating to the condition of various pieces of apparatus and appurtenances, the number of fires occurring since the previous report and the date of the same and the loss occasioned thereby, the total number of active members in the Department, and resignations and expulsions from the Department. He shall also report upon the drill and training program of the Department, together with other pertinent information, including recommendations for such improvements as he deems proper and necessary for the operation of the Department.
F. 
Enforcement of fire prevention ordinances. He shall enforce all fire prevention ordinances of the Village and the state laws and regulations pertaining to fire prevention and shall keep citizens informed on fire prevention methods and on the activities of the Department.
G. 
Fire record book. He shall keep a fire record book of every fire to which the Department was called and shall enter in such book the location of the fire, the time the alarm was received, the cause of the fire, where the fire started, the cause of delay, if any, in responding, estimated fire loss, the time the fire was extinguished, the names of the members responding and general remarks.
H. 
Apparatus inventory. He shall keep an inventory of all apparatus and equipment and an inventory of all hose showing dates and results of tests on each length, which shall be individually numbered.
I. 
Duties as commanding officer. He shall perform such other duties as are usually incumbent on the commanding officers of fire departments.
A. 
The Chief shall have control of all apparatus used by the Department and shall be responsible for its proper maintenance. Emergency repairs may be authorized by the Chief or, in his absence, the highest ranking officer available.
B. 
No apparatus shall be used for any purpose except for firefighting that is within the Village limits, or in training therefor, except pursuant to contracts and mutual aid agreements approved by the Village Board. With the approval of the Chief, such apparatus may be used for emergency purposes within the Village. The Chief may authorize the use of apparatus for legitimate civic purposes.
A. 
Police authority at fires. The Chief and his assistants or officers in command at any fire are hereby vested with full and complete police authority. Any officer of the Department may cause the arrest of any person failing to give the right-of-way to the Fire Department in responding to a fire.
B. 
Control of fires. The Fire Chief may prescribe certain limits in the vicinity of any fire within which no persons except firemen and policemen and those admitted by order of any officer of the Department shall be permitted to enter. The Chief may cause the removal of any property whenever it shall become necessary for the preservation of such property from fire or to prevent the spreading of fire or to protect the adjoining property, and during the progress of any fire he may order the removal or destruction of any property necessary to prevent the further spread of the fire. He may also cause the removal of all wires or other facilities 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.
C. 
Entering premises. Any fireman, while acting under the direction of the Fire Chief or other officer in command, may 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 and if any person shall hinder, resist or obstruct any fireman in the discharge of his duty, as is herein before provided, the person so offending shall be deemed guilty of resisting firemen in the discharge of their duties.
D. 
Injury to equipment prohibited. No person shall willfully injure in any manner any hose, hydrant or fire apparatus belonging to the Village and no vehicle or railroad equipment shall be driven over any unprotected hose of a fire department when laid down on any street, private driveway, track or other place to be used at any fire or alarm of fire without the consent of the Fire Department official in command.
[Amended 4-4-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-007]
A. 
Fire Chief to be Fire Inspector. The Fire Chief shall hold the office of Fire Inspector with power to appoint one or more Deputy Fire Inspectors, who shall perform the same duties and have the same powers as the Fire Inspector.
B. 
Inspection duties. Fire Inspectors shall inspect, semiannually, all buildings, premises and public thoroughfares within the Village limits for the purpose of noting and causing to be corrected any conditions liable to cause fires in accordance with Chapter 130.
C. 
Written record of inspections. The Chief shall keep a written record card of each property inspected which shall conform to the requirements of the State Department of Safety and Professional Services and shall make a semiannual report of inspections required by said Department.
D. 
Correction of fire hazards. When any inspection by the Fire Chief or his deputies reveals a fire hazard, enforcement through Chapter 130 applies.
E. 
Entering on premises. No person shall deny the Fire Inspector or his deputies free access to any property within the Village as described in Chapter 130.
A. 
The following chapters of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, Rules of Department of Safety and Professional Services, are hereby adopted by reference and made a part of this Code:
[Amended 5-6-2013 by Ord. No. 2013-01]
(1) 
SPS 307, Explosives and Fireworks.
(2) 
SPS 310, Flammable, Combustible and Hazardous Liquids.
(3) 
SPS 314, Fire Prevention.
(4) 
SPS 332, Public Employee Safety and Health.
(5) 
SPS 361-366, Commercial Building Code.
B. 
Copies of the above codes are on file in the office of the Fire Chief.
The officers and members of the Fire Department, with their fire equipment of every kind, when going to or on duty at a fire, shall have the right-of-way over all other vehicles upon Village streets, and the operator of any other vehicle, whether motor or otherwise, upon the approach of such fire apparatus, shall immediately drive such other vehicle as far as possible to the right of the thoroughfare and shall keep such vehicle stationary until such fire apparatus shall have passed. Except when actually responding to a fire alarm or other emergency call, or when on duty at a fire, the apparatus and vehicles of the Fire Department shall, however, have no special right-of-way or other privileges of any kind, but shall be subject to all traffic regulations applicable to other vehicles.
All volunteer firemen, when responding to a fire call with a private vehicle, shall comply with all traffic regulations.
A. 
Social club. Members of the Department may organize a social club and elect officers provided that social activities are not funded from Village funds.
B. 
Fund-raising. The social club may raise funds for social activities provided that any advertising clearly states the purpose the funds are being raised for.
[Amended 4-10-2023 by Charter Ord. 2023-002]
A. 
General.
(1) 
The Blanchardville EMS Director is the presiding officer for the Emergency Medical Corps but shall consult with the Fire Chief on matters affecting the Blanchardville Fire Department, for so long as Blanchardville operates an EMS.
(2) 
Evaluation of Emergency Services shall be made every two years by the Public Safety Committee, and for Fire as well as EMS the standards below shall be used.
(3) 
The Chairperson of Public Safety and Village President shall maintain a working relationship with the Lafayette County EMS Director and County Emergency Response Director or equivalent.
B. 
Limitations on EMS.
(1) 
Fire protection and emergency medical services are of paramount local concern.
(2) 
The Village has determined it is in the best interest of its community to apply limitations on any EMS proposed or currently operating in the service area without exception.
(3) 
The Village has determined that failure to meet the standards described in this section constitute an immediate danger to public health, safety, or welfare.
C. 
Definitions. The Village finds it is necessary to define and describe the following terms in determining the fitness of an EMS to serve our community:
ACTION
Has the meaning of: a formal exercise of § 61.34 or 66.0101, Wis. Stats., powers belonging to the Village Board, explicitly addressing EMS and Fire.
ADOPTED EMS
Has the meaning of: the EMS primarily responsible for emergency medical responses throughout the community, or as named by the Village Board, and is funded in any part by the Village.
BLANCHARDVILLE EMS DIRECTOR
Has the meaning of: the officer identified in EMS bylaws as having control of the Emergency Medical Corps.
CERTIFIED EMS
Is defined by reference to Chapter 256.12.2(a).
COMMUNITY
Has the meaning of: the residents of the Village of Blanchardville and residents of any local government bodies with whom intergovernmental agreements are in effect as of March 15, 2023, and any that choose to exercise renewal provisions of such agreements as happens from time to time.
CONTRACT EMS
Has the meaning of: a private company or other organization not controlled by a village or city, operating an EMS certified at Basic Emergency Medical Technician or above.
COUNTY EMS
Has the meaning of: an EMS which is controlled, owned, or adopted by the county through a County Executive or the Board of County Supervisors.
DHS
Refers to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and its applicable administrative codes.
DISPOSITION
Has the meaning of: the stated or relayed medical facility that a patient will be delivered to for further care beyond emergency medical services.
EMS CONTROL OR REPRESENTATION
Has the meaning of:
(1) 
Ownership of the adopted EMS; or
(2) 
At least one Village Trustee or EMS Officer with a meaningful vote or a designated representative of the community.
FULL-TIME EMS
Has the meaning of: an EMS certified at Basic Emergency Medical Technician or above where 66% or more of staff expected to respond to a call in the proposed or designated service area are full-time, for example on a twelve-hour shift.
HYBRID EMS
Has the meaning of: an EMS certified at Basic Emergency Medical Technician or above where at least two people are full-time employees, but volunteer or limited-term employees represent 66% or more of staff expected to respond to a call in the proposed or designated service area.
INCIDENT ALERT
Has the meaning of the point in time where the appropriate EMS representative was sent notification by dispatch.
LCEMS and COMMISSION
Refers to Lafayette County Emergency Medical Services and the Lafayette County EMS Commission.
PROXIMITY
Has the meaning of: the physical location from which an ambulance would depart from and the distance to Village Hall or local governmental designated community building or municipal post office.
SCENE ARRIVAL
Has the meaning of: the elapsed time from incident alert time to the time when the ambulance arrives on scene.
SCHEDULE
Has the meaning of: 336 hours of time in a given two-week period for which a Basic Emergency Medical Technician or above might be scheduled or on call.
UNIT EN ROUTE
Has the meaning of: the elapsed time from incident alert time to the time when the ambulance has a legal crew on board (DHS) and is moving towards the scene.
VOLUNTEER EMS
Has the meaning of: an EMS certified (DHS) at Basic Emergency Medical Technician or above where none of the members are full-time employees.
WORKING RELATIONSHIP
Has the meaning of: at least an annual conference where at least one Trustee (President or Chairperson) communicates with the EMS Director or County Emergency Coordinator or equivalent discussing introductions, changes in local resource lists, plans, and anything as appropriate to effect coordinated services for our community.
D. 
EMS criteria. The Village Board has determined an EMS must meet the following criteria and failure to do so shall be met with action by the Village Board:
(1) 
Certification as an EMS through the Department of Health Services or the Administrative Agency identified by the Wisconsin Legislature.
(2) 
For hybrid or full-time EMS a schedule is provided addressing the maximum possible coverage necessary to properly staff ambulances appropriate to the level of service they are certified at, and at a count appropriate for the population of the community.
(3) 
Unit en route time of less than nine minutes, in at least 70% of cases, within a period of time up to 24 months.
(4) 
Scene arrival time of less than 20 minutes, in at least 70% of cases, within a period of time up to 24 months.
(5) 
Shared control or representation for municipalities whose residents are served by, levied, or otherwise charged for EMS or related services.
(6) 
Any charges, fees or levies bear a reasonable relationship for which it is imposed.
Any person who shall violate any provision of this chapter or any order, rule or regulation made hereunder shall be subject to a penalty, as provided in § 1-4 of this Code.
[Added 3-4-2019 by Ord. No. 46-15]
A. 
Purpose. The purpose of this section is to establish a written fee schedule to recover costs of the Village of Blanchardville Volunteer Fire Department (hereafter designated "BVFD") and other emergency response services as described in this section.
B. 
Authority. Pursuant to Wis. Stats. §§ 61.34 and 66.0627, the Village of Blanchardville is given broad authority to manage and control municipal property, finances and the public service and to act for the government and good order of the municipalities it serves, and for its commercial benefit and for the health, safety, and welfare convenience of the public.
C. 
Fire protection costs. Property owners of real estate and/or improvements to real estate located within the fire district shall be responsible for the costs of the BVFD's response and suppression activities associated with combating such fire, based upon a schedule of cost assessments adopted by the Village of Blanchardville and on file in the Office of the Clerk-Treasurer for the Village of Blanchardville. For purposes of this section and this Code of Ordinances, "property" shall include, but not be limited to the following: structures, grass, crops, trees, wooded areas, improvements to real estate, portable structures, equipment, and personal property.
D. 
Vehicles. The owner or lessee of any vehicle to which BVFD responds for any fire, potential fire, or vehicle accident of any kind, wherever the same occurs, shall be responsible for the cost of BVFD's response and operations associated therewith, based upon the schedule of cost assessments on file with the office of the Clerk-Treasurer for the Village of Blanchardville. For purposes of this section, "vehicle" shall include, but not be limited to any automobile, truck, motorcycle, all-terrain vehicle (ATV), utility terrain vehicle (UTV), moped, tractor, snowmobile, horse-drawn carrier, and farm equipment.
E. 
Waiver of assessment. There shall be no fee levied under the terms of this section for the response by the BVFD to a fire on open land along any public highway or waterway for which the property owner and/or lessee, if any, are not responsible for starting the same. This waiver section shall not apply to any liability of anyone pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 26.14.
F. 
Fee structure. The governing body of the BVFD may modify the schedule of assessments at any time, subject to approval by the Village Board of the Village of Blanchardville. BVFD is hereby authorized to adopt a scale of additional charges, as said governing body of BVFD determines necessary, subject to approval by the Village Board of the Village of Blanchardville, for any additional equipment, BVFD responders, and the like as used in response to the matters described in this section.
G. 
Collection procedures. The BVFD shall direct all charges set forth herein to the person, persons, or entity, as described in this section, regarding the services provided by BVFD. In addition to seeking payment from such person, persons, or entity, the BVFD shall pursue such claim against any insurer of the responsible party for whom the services were rendered. Any amount not paid within 60 days of the date of billing to the responsible party shall be deemed delinquent, and the Village of Blanchardville shall, in its discretion, seek repayment of any portion through any legal means available. BVFD shall seek reimbursement from the State of Wisconsin and/or any county or other governmental agency for such amounts as may be permitted by law.
H. 
Other departments. Nothing contained herein shall prevent the BVFD from entering into agreements with other fire districts regarding reimbursement for costs and expense to the BVFD.
I. 
Delegation of authority. The Village of Blanchardville delegates to BVFD the authority to collect charges set forth in this section. This section is a supplement to, but does not replace, any other assessment procedures of the Village of Blanchardville for the operation of BVFD.