[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Board of Trustees 10-4-1993 (Secs. 5-2-1 and 5-2-3 of the
1993 Code of Ordinances), as amended through 2-17-2015. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
Fire Department recognized. The Spencer Fire Department and Ambulance
Service is officially recognized as the Fire Department serving the
Village of Spencer, and the duties of firefighting and fire prevention
in the Village are delegated to such Department. The Spencer Fire
Department and Ambulance Service shall be responsible for the program
of fire defense for the citizens and property within the Village of
Spencer.[1]
B.
Appropriations. The Village Board shall appropriate funds for Fire
Department operations and for such apparatus and equipment for the
use of the Fire Department as the Board may deem expedient and necessary
to maintain efficiency and properly protect life and property from
fire.
C.
Goals of the fire defense program.
(1)
The primary objective of the fire defense program is to serve all
citizens, without prejudice or favoritism, by safeguarding, collectively
and individually, their lives against the effects of fires and explosions.
(2)
The second objective of the fire defense program is to safeguard
the general economy and welfare of the community by preventing major
conflagrations and the destruction by fire of industries and businesses.
(3)
The third objective of the fire defense program is to protect the
property of all citizens against the effects of fire and explosions.
All property deserves equal protection regardless of location or monetary
value.
A.
Police authority at fires.
(1)
The Chief and assistants or officers in command at any fire are hereby
vested with full and complete police authority at fires. 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.
(2)
The Fire Chief may prescribe certain limits in the vicinity of any
fire within which no persons, excepting firefighters and policemen
and those admitted by order of any officer of the Department, shall
be permitted to come.
(3)
The 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 or to prevent the spreading of fire or to protect the adjoining
property, and during the progress of any fire he shall have the power
to 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.
B.
Fire inspection duties.
(1)
The Fire Chief, or an authorized fire inspector as his designee,
shall be the Fire Inspector of the Village of Spencer and shall have
the power to appoint one or more deputy Fire Inspectors and shall
perform all duties required of the Fire Inspectors by the laws of
the state and rules of the Department of Safety and Professional Services,
particularly § 101.14, Wis. Stats.
(2)
While acting as Fire Inspector pursuant to § 101.14(2),
Wis. Stats., the Fire Chief, or any officer of the Fire Department
designated by the Fire Chief, shall have the right and authority to
enter any building or upon any premises in the Village of Spencer
at all reasonable hours for the purpose of making inspections or investigations
which, under the provisions of this Code of Ordinances, he may deem
necessary. Should the Fire Inspector find that any provisions of this
Code relating to fire hazards and prevention of fires are being violated,
or that a fire hazard exists which should be eliminated, it shall
be his duty to give such directions for the abatement of such conditions
as he shall deem necessary and, if such directions be not complied
with, to report such noncompliance to the Village Board for further
action.
(3)
The Chief of the Fire Department is required, by himself or by officers
or members of the Fire Department designated by him as fire inspectors,
to inspect all buildings, premises and public thoroughfares, except
the interiors of private dwellings, for the purpose of ascertaining
and causing to be corrected any conditions liable to cause fire, or
any violations of any law or ordinance relating to the fire hazard
or to the prevention of fires. Such inspections shall be made at least
once in six months in all of the territory served by the Fire Department,
and not less than once in three months in such territory as the Village
Board has designated or thereafter designates as within the Village
or as a congested district subject to conflagration, and oftener as
the Chief of the Fire Department orders. Each six-month period shall
begin on January 1 and July 1, and each three-month period on January
1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 of each year.
