[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Sellersville as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Law enforcement services — See Ch. 20.
[Adopted 7-11-2005 by Ord. No. 643]
This article shall be known as the "Sellersville Borough Emergency
Service Cost Reimbursement Ordinance."
A.
Authority. Under Section 1202 of the Borough Code, 53 P.S. § 46202
and Hazardous Material Emergency Planning and Response Act, 35 P.S.
§ 6022.101 et seq., the Borough has the authority to make
rules and regulations for the government of fire companies located
within the Borough.
B.
Findings. The Borough recognizes that the duties of volunteer fire
companies require specialized emergency rescue tools and equipment,
emergency rescue materials, hazardous material abatement equipment,
and hazardous abatement materials during emergency responses. The
Borough recognizes that such tools and equipment place a financial
burden on volunteer fire companies, and the replacement of such materials
and specialized training add to the additional financial burden for
volunteer fire companies.
C.
Purpose. To grant any fire company operating in Sellersville Borough
("fire departments") the authority to seek reimbursement for the reasonable
cost of responding to such incidents, either directly or in coordination
with the Office of Emergency Management, as provided below.
A.
The Borough authorizes the fire departments to recover the reasonable
cost of emergency rescue tools, equipment, and materials; hazardous
material abatement tools, equipment, and materials; and incurred third-party
expenses involving any hazardous material, environmental, fire safety,
and/or rescue incident or operation, including vehicular accidents.
B.
The reasonable costs outlined above may be recovered directly by
the fire departments or through a third-party billing service as an
authorized agent for the collection of such costs.
C.
The fire departments or third-party billing service shall only have
the authority to recover the aforementioned costs from the applicable
insurance company/carrier.
D.
The reimbursement rates for the aforementioned tools, equipment,
and materials shall be set by the fire departments from time to time
and shall be only applied to the recovery of costs arising out of
incidents that occurred subsequent to the setting of the rates. These
rates shall be approved by Sellersville Borough Council and shall
be kept on file in the Borough Building.
E.
In addition to the aforementioned reasonable costs, the fire department
or third-party billing service shall be authorized to collect reasonable
interest, as well as a reasonable administrative fee for collecting
the same, and any and all additional fees as may be authorized by
the Hazardous Material and Emergency Planning and Response Act[1] or authorized by any other statute or law.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 6022.101 et seq.
The Borough shall not be responsible for any aspect of the recovery
of costs under this article. The Borough shall not take any steps
to assist the fire departments or any third-party billing service
in recovery of costs under this article.
Any attempt by a fire department or third-party billing service
to recover costs from any individual/entity other than the appropriate
insurance company/carrier shall result in the immediate revocation
of the authority to recover such costs granted under this article.
[Adopted 8-7-2017 by Ord.
No. 713]
This article shall be known as the "Sellersville Borough Emergency
Rapid Entry System Ordinance."
A.
The purpose of this article is to protect and promote the health,
safety, and welfare of the citizens of the Borough of Sellersville.
B.
An ordinance is necessary to require certain commercial buildings
to install devices and provide the Sellersville Fire Department with
immediate, nondestructive access to such buildings in order to increase
efficiency, prevent costly forced-entry damage, protect private property,
inventory equipment and supplies, and help prevent possible injury
to firefighters and emergency responders from forced entry into private
property.
The following words and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning:
Any person or entity that monitors an automated fire alarm
system and upon receipt of a signal from such system notifies the
Bucks County 9-1-1 communications center.
A system or assembly of equipment composed of sensory apparatus
and related hardware that detects the presence of smoke or fire and
automatically transmits a signal from the premises to an alarm monitoring
company.
A system or assembly of piping, valves, controls, and sprinklers
designed to utilize water, foam, CO2, or other gas to automatically
suppress fire.
The Borough of Sellersville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
The duly appointed Chief of the Sellersville Fire Department.
The Sellersville Fire Department.
A rapid entry lock box manufactured by the Knox Corporation,
the exact model and placement to be determined by the Fire Chief in
his reasonable judgment, for which the Fire Department maintains a
master key to obtain entry in order to access key(s) to a building
and certain locked areas within such building as designated by the
Fire Chief.
A.
The owners of the following types of buildings located in the Borough
shall install a Knox-Box® in, on, or near such building:
All Knox-Boxes shall contain labeled keys that clearly identify
the building and any locked areas designated by the Fire Chief to
which the keys apply.
A.
Any locked gate, fence, or other device that obstructs access to any commercial building described in § 17-9A(1) through (4), or such building's surrounding property, shall be locked only with a locking device approved by the Fire Chief in his reasonable discretion. A duplicate key, access code, or other means of immediate entry shall be provided to the Fire Chief.
This article shall be enforced by a criminal action in the same
manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the
Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. A person convicted of violating
this article shall be sentenced to pay a fine not to exceed $1,000
per violation plus court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees
incurred by the Borough of Sellersville or to imprisonment for not
more than 90 days, or both. Violations of more than one provision
of this article shall constitute separate violations. Each day that
a violation of any provision of this article continues or occurs shall
constitute a separate violation.
