There is hereby established in the city a department to be known as the McLendon-Chisholm Fire Rescue Department (“department”), the object of which shall be the prevention and suppression of fire, rescue-emergency medical services and the protection of life and property within the limits of the city.
(Ordinance 2018-01 adopted 4/10/18)
The fire chief shall be the executive head of the department. The fire chief shall be hired at the discretion of the city administrator. The fire chief shall be selected based on his/her training, experience, executive and administrative qualifications and overall merit and fitness and hold head of department certification by the Texas Commission on Fire Protection.
(Ordinance 2018-01 adopted 4/10/18; Ordinance 2022-04 adopted 7/12/22)
There shall be assistant fire chiefs appointed by the fire chief as necessary and in accordance with the rules and procedures of the department. In the absence or disability of the fire chief, the ranking assistant fire chief shall perform all the functions and exercise all the authority of the fire chief.
(Ordinance 2018-01 adopted 4/10/18)
(a) 
The fire chief may serve as fire marshal, upon appointment by and at the pleasure of the city council. The fire chief, upon consultation with the emergency management director, may recommend to the city council the appointment of a fire marshal and the city council may appoint such person to serve as fire marshal at the pleasure of the city council. The fire marshal is designated an arson investigator as that term is used in Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 2.12(7), as amended. The fire marshal/arson investigator must obtain and maintain certification and license as a peace officer from the commission on law enforcement.
(b) 
The department may consist of other officers as deemed necessary and appointed by the fire chief.
(Ordinance 2018-01 adopted 4/10/18)
(a) 
The fire chief shall be held accountable for the department only and shall make written and verbal reports thereto as the city council may require.
(b) 
The fire chief shall command and direct the department to extinguish accidental or destructive fires and prevent the occurrence or spread of fires.
(c) 
The fire chief shall organize the department in a logical manner to facilitate the accomplishment of the department’s goals and objectives in a safe, orderly, and efficient manner. The fire chief may, as approved by the city administrator, establish bureaus, divisions, sections, etc., as the fire chief deems appropriate, and shall designate officers to head each of those subunits and specify the chain of command of those officers as well as the duties of each. The fire chief shall designate the order of succession of the assistant chiefs and battalion chiefs.
(d) 
The fire chief shall establish, publish, and maintain written procedures, rules and regulations to ensure safe and efficient operations of the department. The fire chief shall routinely ensure that all volunteers and employees of the department are trained on said procedures, and that all officers actively encourage compliance with and enforce those procedures, rules and regulations.
(e) 
The fire chief or other designated personnel is hereby empowered to enter any buildings and premises at any reasonable hour for the purpose of making inspections and to serve written notice upon the owner or occupant to abate, within a specified time, any and all fire hazards that may be found. Any person so served with a notice to abate any fire hazard shall comply therewith and promptly notify the fire chief.
(f) 
The fire chief shall see that complete records are kept on all fires, inspections, apparatus, and minor equipment, personnel and other information about the work of the department.
(g) 
The fire chief shall make budget requests to the city council in accordance with the rules of procedures of the department.
(h) 
The fire chief shall have the power to discipline, suspend or discharge any firefighter of the department, subject to city administrator review and in compliance with applicable ordinances and personnel procedures of the city and state and federal law.
(i) 
In event of a fire, the fire chief, or the designated officer in command, shall command the fire scene and direct the management thereof for the suppression of the fire in the best manner possible. When necessary for the protection of other property and to prevent the spread of fire, the fire chief or other office in command may cause buildings to be removed or destroyed in the best manner possible.
(j) 
The fire chief shall enforce or cause others to enforce the laws, codes and ordinances of this state and city with regard to fire protection and fire safety within the city.
(k) 
The fire chief may promulgate rules and regulations for the operation and conduct of the department, subject to approval of the city council.
(l) 
The fire chief shall be subject to the personnel regulations of the city, including the code of ethics, as they exist or may be amended.
(Ordinance 2018-01 adopted 4/10/18)
(a) 
The personnel of the department shall be volunteers, except the fire chief or other budgeted positions who may be an employee(s) of the city. The fire chief shall promote volunteerism and actively recruit volunteers to maintain insurance service office recommended staffing levels and in accordance with the rules and procedures of the department. Personnel shall be certified in accordance with state standards. Each volunteer shall begin certification training within thirty (30) days of becoming a volunteer firefighter.
(b) 
Volunteer firefighters may receive compensation as may be established by the city council.
(c) 
All volunteers and employees of the department shall be subject to the personnel regulations of the city, including the code of ethics, as they exist or may be amended.
(Ordinance 2018-01 adopted 4/10/18)
(a) 
The department may be equipped with such fire apparatus and other equipment as may be required to maintain its efficiency and properly protect life and property from fire. Such apparatus and equipment are the property of the city, and the city will be responsible for the purchase and maintenance costs of said apparatus and equipment.
(b) 
The fire chief, subject to the orders and direction of the city administrator, shall have control of all fire apparatus and equipment belonging to the city.
(c) 
All equipment of the department shall be safely and conveniently housed in such place as may be designated by the city council.
(d) 
No person shall use any fire apparatus or equipment for any private purpose, nor shall any person willfully take away or conceal any article used in any way by the department without the consent of the fire chief and city administrator.
(e) 
No person, other than volunteers and employees of the department, shall enter any place where fire apparatus or equipment is housed unless accompanied by, or having the special permission of, the fire chief or city administrator.
(f) 
The city and department are hereby authorized to enter into agreements or contracts with nearby incorporated communities or governing bodies of other organizations to provide the members of such communities or organizations with fire protection or to establish a mutual-aid system.
(g) 
No apparatus shall be hired out or permitted to leave the city without the consent of the fire chief. The officer in charge of the department shall have power to assign equipment for response to calls for outside aid in accordance with the standard operating procedures of the department and in other cases only when the absence of such equipment will not jeopardize protection in this city.
(Ordinance 2018-01 adopted 4/10/18)
(a) 
No person shall drive any vehicle over a fire hose except upon specific orders from the fire chief or other officer in charge.
(b) 
No person shall park any vehicle or otherwise cause any obstruction to be placed near the entrance to any fire station or other place where fire apparatus is stored or within ten (10) feet of any fire hydrant.
(c) 
No unauthorized person with any vehicle shall follow within six hundred (600) feet of any apparatus belonging to the department, nor park any vehicle with three hundred (300) feet of a fire.
(d) 
No person shall maliciously turn in or cause to be turned in a false alarm.
(e) 
All moving apparatus of the department shall have the paramount right-of-way through all streets, thoroughfares, lanes, alleys, places and courts of the city when en route to an emergency and such apparatus, together with all other vehicles contiguous thereto, shall take and keep to the right-hand side of the street unless the same is obstructed, in order to give the apparatus of the department the unobstructed use of the streets for the time being.
(f) 
The department shall have the right, in time of emergency, to place ropes or guards across all streets, thoroughfares, lanes or alleys on which shall be situated any emergency and at such other points as it may deem expedient and necessary, and the department personnel who have been assigned by the fire chief for policing purposes shall prevent any and all persons, except officers and department personnel and owners and occupants of such buildings, endangered by the existing emergency, from entering the lines designated by ropes or guards.
(g) 
It shall be unlawful for any person, other than department personnel, to interfere with, or in any manner hinder, any department personnel in the discharge of their duties as such.
(h) 
It shall be unlawful for any person, other than department personnel, to handle, or in any way interfere with, any of the apparatus belonging to or used by the department, either at a fire or while traveling to or returning from a fire, or while standing in the department quarters, or at any time, unless such person is requested to do so by an officer of the department.
(Ordinance 2018-01 adopted 4/10/18)
Neither the city, the city council, the fire chief nor the individual firefighters shall in any way be held responsible for damages occasioned to persons or property during attempts to extinguish fires or for the destruction thereof or for damage done to any person, animal or vehicle coming into collision with the fire apparatus or the vehicles driven by department personnel when proceeding to the place of a fire.
(Ordinance 2018-01 adopted 4/10/18)
(a) 
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction in the municipal court of this city, or before a justice of the peace, pay a fine as provided for in the general penalty provision found in section 1.01.009 of this code.
(b) 
All regularly appointed department personnel are hereby given the necessary special powers for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this article.
(c) 
It is the special duty of the law enforcement personnel and/or other officers who may be on duty and available for fire duty to respond to all fire alarms inside the city limits and assist the department in the protection of life and property in regulating traffic, maintaining order and in enforcing observance of all sections of this article.
(Ordinance 2018-01 adopted 4/10/18)