This article shall provide the City with rules and regulations to improve public safety by promoting the control of fire hazards; regulating the installation, use, and maintenance of equipment; regulating the use of structures, premises, and open areas; providing for the abatement of fire hazards; establishing the responsibilities and procedures for code enforcement; and setting forth the standards for compliance and achievement of these objectives.
[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Commission of the City of Fennville as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
A.
This article shall be known as the "City of Fennville Fire Prevention Code." This article adopts the following codes of the National Fire Protection Association, and their incorporated standards, codes, and appendices throughout its corporate limits.
B.
The same are hereby adopted and incorporated as fully as if set out at length herein. Not less than one copy of the adopted issue of NFPA 1, Fire Prevention Code, of the National Fire Protection Association, and the adopted standards and codes of the National Fire Codes shall be filed in the office of the Fire Chief, and the provisions thereof shall be controlling within the limits of the City.
It shall be unlawful for any person to violate this article, to permit or maintain such a violation, to refuse to obey any provision thereof, or to fail or refuse to comply with any such provision or regulations except as variation may be allowed by the action of the Fire Chief in writing. Proof of such unlawful act or failure shall be deemed prima facie evidence that such act is that of the owner or other person in control of the premises. Prosecution or lack thereof of either the owner, occupant, or the person in charge shall not be deemed to relieve any of the others.
The Fire Chief of the Fennville Area Fire Department shall be responsible for the enforcement of the Fire Prevention Code. The Fire Chief may detail qualified members of the Fire Department as inspectors as shall from time to time be necessary.
A.
It shall be the duty of the Fire Chief, and the inspectors designated by the Chief, to enforce all laws and ordinances of the City, covering the following:
(1)
The prevention of fires.
(2)
The storage, sale, and use of combustible, flammable, or explosive materials.
(3)
The installation and maintenance of automatic and other fire alarm systems and fire extinguishing equipment.
(4)
The maintenance and regulation of fire escapes.
(5)
The means and adequacy of exit in case of fire from factories, schools, hotels, lodging houses, asylums, hospitals, churches, halls, theaters, amphitheaters, and all other places in which numbers of persons work, live, or congregate, from time to time, for any purpose.
(6)
The investigation of the cause, origin, and circumstances of fires.
(7)
The maintenance of fire cause and loss records.
B.
They shall have such other powers and perform such other duties as are set forth in other sections of this article, and as may be conferred and imposed from time to time by law.
C.
The Fire Chief may delegate any powers or duties under this article to a qualified officer of the Fire Department.
The Fire Chief shall prepare instructions for the enforcement of this article by the Chief and their designated inspectors, and forms for their use in the reports required by this article.
The Fire Chief or their designated inspector shall investigate the cause, origin, and circumstances of every fire occurring in the City by which property has been destroyed or damaged and, so far as possible, shall determine whether the fire is the result of carelessness or design. Such investigation shall begin immediately upon the occurrence of such a fire. The Fire Chief shall take charge immediately of the physical evidence, shall notify the proper authorities designated by law to pursue the investigation of such matters, and shall further cooperate with the authorities in the collection of evidence and in the prosecution of the case. Every fire shall be reported in writing to the Fire Chief and the Fire Board within 14 days after the occurrences of same by the Fire Department officer responsible for the preparation of the report. Such report shall be in such form as shall be prescribed by the Fire Chief, and shall contain a statement of all facts relating to the cause, origin, and circumstances of such fire, the extent of the damage thereof, and the insurance upon such property, and such other information as may be required, including the injury, death, or rescue of persons.
Before permits may be issued as required by this article, the Fire Chief or their designated inspector shall inspect and approve the receptacles, processes, vehicles, buildings, and storage places to be used for any such purposes.
The Fire Chief shall inspect or cause to be inspected all premises on a periodic basis and shall make such orders as may be necessary for the enforcement of the laws and ordinances governing the same and for safeguarding of life and property from fire.
A.
Whenever any inspector, as defined above, shall find in any building, or upon any premises or other places, combustible or explosive matter or dangerous accumulations of rubbish or unnecessary accumulation of wastepaper, boxes, shavings, or any highly flammable materials especially liable to fire, and which is so situated as to endanger property; or shall find obstructions to or on fire escapes, stairs, passageways, doors, or windows, liable to interfere with the operations of the Fire Department or egress of occupants in case of fire, the inspector shall order the same to be removed or remedied, and such order shall forthwith be complied with by the owner or occupant of such premises or buildings, subject to the appeals procedure provided for in the Fire Prevention Code. Any owner or occupant failing to comply with such order within a reasonable period after the service of the said order shall be liable to penalties as hereinafter provided.
B.
The service of any such order may be made upon the occupant of the premises to whom it is directed, either by delivering a copy of same to such occupant personally, or leaving it with any person in charge of the premises, or, in the case no such person is found on the premises, by affixing a copy thereof in a conspicuous place on the door to the entrance of said premises. Whenever it may be necessary to serve such an order upon the owner of premises, such order may be served either by delivering to and leaving with the person a copy of the order, or, if such owner is absent from the jurisdiction of the officer making the order, by mailing such copy by certified mail to the owner's last known post office address.
The Fire Chief shall compile and keep a record of all fires and of all the facts concerning the same, including injuries, deaths, rescue of persons, statistics as to the extent of such fires and the damage caused thereby, and whether such losses were covered by insurance, and if so, in what amount. Such record shall be made daily from the reports made by the inspectors of the Fire Department under the provisions of this article. All such records shall be public.
The Fire Chief shall make an annual report of the activities of the Fire Department and shall transmit this report to the City Administrator for forwarding to the City Commission. The report shall contain all proceedings under the Fire Prevention Code with such statistics as the Fire Chief may wish to include therein, or such statistics as may be required by the City Administrator and/or the City Commission.
The Fire Chief shall also recommend any amendments to the Fire Prevention Code or this article, or other ordinances that shall be desirable.
The provisions of the Fire Prevention Code shall apply equally to both public and private property, and it shall apply to all structures and their occupancies, except as otherwise specified.
This article shall be deemed in exercise of the police powers of the City for the preservation and protection of the public health, peace, safety, and welfare, and all the provisions of the Fire Prevention Code shall be liberally construed for that purpose.
A.
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this article, the Fire Prevention Code hereby adopted; or shall fail to comply therewith; or shall fail to comply with any order made thereunder; or shall build in violation of any details, statements, specifications, or plans submitted or approved hereunder; or shall operate not in accordance with the provisions of any certificate, permit, or approval issued thereunder, and from which no appeal has been taken; or who shall fail to comply with such order as affirmed or modified by the Fire Chief or by a court of competent jurisdiction within the time fixed herein shall severally for each and every violation and noncompliance, respectively, be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to the provisions of § 1-26, General penalties and sanctions for violations of Code and City ordinances; continuing violations; injunctive relief, of this Code.
B.
The imposition of any penalty for any violation shall not excuse the violation nor shall the violation be permitted to continue. All such persons shall be required to correct or remedy such violations or defects within a reasonable time, and when not otherwise specified, the application of the above penalty shall not be held to prevent the enforced removal of prohibited conditions.
A Board of Appeals is hereby established to sit in judgment on matters concerning the Fire Prevention Code and its enforcement. The Board of Appeals shall be the Fire Board.
Fees for permits, certificates, approvals, and other functions performed under this article shall be established from time to time by resolution of the City Commission and shall be made payable to the City. Such fees shall accompany each application for such permit, approval, certificate, or other fee-related Code provision.
[Adopted 10-2-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-07]
The City of Fennville finds that persons in the City have historically engaged in a practice of open burning, which practice, when conducted within certain areas of the City, has negatively affected the health and welfare of some City residents and other persons. In addition, the City has found that unregulated open burning increases the risk of property damage caused by uncontrolled fires, and threatens the safety and well-being of the City's residents and other persons. As a result of these determinations, the City has adopted this article to regulate open burning throughout the City and to prohibit open burning in those areas of the City where open burning negatively affects the health and welfare of the City's residents and other persons.
For the purpose of their use in this article, the following words and terms are hereinafter defined. Any word or term not defined herein shall be considered to be defined in accordance with its common or standard definition.
The City of Fennville, Allegan County, Michigan, unless otherwise indicated herein.
Any substance that will burn, including but not limited to refuse, debris, waste, brush, stumps, logs, rubbish, fallen timber, grass, stubble, leaves, fallow land, slash, crops or crop residue, garbage, animal carcasses, or trash.
A fire from which the emissions from the combustion are emitted directly into the open air without first passing through a stack or chimney.
An individual, cooperative, public or private corporation, partnership, joint venture, association, personal representative, receiver, trustee, any unit or agency of government, any equivalent entity, any combination of entities, or any officer, employee or agent of any of the foregoing.
They shall have the definitions given to them in the Michigan Vehicle Code, being Michigan Act 300 of 1949, as amended.
A.
No person shall cause or permit any open burning within the City, except as otherwise specifically provided below.
B.
No person shall conduct open burning as part of a salvage operation within the City.
C.
The prohibition contained in this section shall not apply to the following types of open burning:
(1)
Open fires used for recreational purposes, such as campfires, provided: fires are contained or otherwise separated by at least 20 feet from other ignitable or flammable material; the individual who ignites the fire provides fire extinguishing equipment at the site of the fire prior to ignition; no nuisance is created; and there is no violation of any other City ordinance, state or federal law or administrative rule (e.g., the Clean Air Act, as amended);
(2)
Recognized trade devices used for heating by construction workers, provided no nuisance is created, and provided there is no violation of any other City ordinance, state or federal law or administrative rule;
(3)
Open charcoal or wood fires used for cooking of food, provided no nuisance is created, and provided there is no violation of any other City ordinance, state or federal law or administrative rule; and
(4)
Fires set for the instruction of public firefighters if the purpose of the fire is for fire fighting training.
No person shall:
A.
Have a fire for any other purpose than for recreation. Prohibited items include, but are not limited to, yard clipping and leaves, carcasses, rubber and/or plastic materials, or any other apparent household waste.
B.
Set on fire or cause to be set on fire any flammable material located on a roadway, sidewalk, bicycle path, or any improved portion of a street;
C.
Dispose of a lighted match, cigarette, cigar, ashes or other flaming or glowing substance, or any other substance or thing that is likely to ignite a forest, brush, or grass fire, or throw or drop from a moving vehicle any such objects or substance;
D.
Set on fire or cause to be set on fire any flammable material without taking reasonable precautions, both before and at all times after lighting the fire, to prevent the fire from spreading;
E.
Leave a fire before it is extinguished;
F.
Set a backfire or cause a backfire to be set, except under the direct supervision of the City Fire Chief or their designee;
G.
Use or operate a welding torch, tar pot, or any other device which may cause a fire outside of a building, without clearing flammable material surrounding the operation and without taking such other reasonable precautions necessary to insure against the starting and spreading of fire;
H.
Operate or cause to be operated any engine, machinery, or motor vehicle not equipped with spark arresters or other suitable devices to prevent the escape of fire or sparks; or
I.
Discharge or cause to be discharged a gun firing flares, incendiary or tracer bullets or tracer charge onto or across any forest or grassland.
Individuals desiring to set an open fire pursuant to § 196-22C(2) above shall first apply for a permit from the Fennville Area Fire Department for such fire on forms required by the Fire Department. All issued permits shall be deemed revoked and void if the Michigan Department of Natural Resources or another state or county agency or the City issues a fire advisory or similar statement of fire hazard conditions whereby an open fire could cause a safety or fire hazard.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to authorize any burning where such burning is prohibited by state or federal law or regulation, including without limitation any burning which causes:
A.
In addition to any other charges, fines or penalties for which a person may be liable under other applicable law or local ordinance, any violation of this article constitutes a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine not in excess of $500, plus costs of prosecution, or imprisonment not in excess of 90 days, or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court. Each day during which any violation of this article continues shall be deemed a separate and distinct offense.
No officer, agent, employee or member of the City Commission shall render themselves personally liable for any damage that may accrue to any person as a result of any act or decision performed in the discharge of their duties and responsibilities pursuant to this article.