CHAPTER XXXII.
Fire Department.
Sec. 441. Fire departments—Control and supervision.
The Fire Department of the City shall be under the control
of the City Council. All drivers, enginemen and other persons
in the employ of the Fire Department shall be elected
by the Fire Company at its annual August meeting and such
election shall be forthwith reported to the City Council together
with the salaries to be paid, for confirmation or rejection
at its September meeting. In event the Council rejects any or all
of the persons so elected, said Council shall at once proceed to
elect. In event of a vacancy the Mayor shall fill the same by appointment,
the appointee to serve until the next regular meeting
of the Fire Company when said Company shall elect a person to
fill such vacancy and present his name to the Council for confirmation
or rejection as above.
Sec. 442. Fire company.
The Fire Department of the City shall be composed of a volunteer
organization known as the "Charlottesville Fire Company."
Such company so organized shall be under the direction and control
of an officer to be styled the chief of the Fire Department
and one assistant chief. The election of chief and assistant, together
with such other officers as said company may deem necessary,
shall be held at its regular meeting in August of each year,
or as soon thereafter as practicable, and their term of office shall
commence on the first day of September next following. The
names of the officers thus chosen by said Company shall be presented
to the Council at its next regular meeting for confirmation.
In case the Council refuses to confirm said chief and other
officers, said Company shall forthwith elect other persons in place
of those whom the Council refused to confirm, and submit their
names to the Council at its next regular meeting. In case the
Fire Company shall fail to report the names of persons to fill the
positions of chief and assistant of the Fire Company, as provided
above, the Council shall appoint such officers, and they shall hold
their respective positions and be subject to the regulations herein
prescribed.
Sec. 443. Chief—his duties and powers.
The chief, or in his absence, the assistant chief, shall have control
over all members of the Fire Department while in service at
fires, and may for insubordination thereat, suspend any member
from service for such a period as he may deem proper with the
privilege of appeal to the Company at its next regular meeting.
Said chief and assistant and the Police Officers of the City, shall
exclude from, and prevent the interference of all persons at
buildings and grounds adjacent thereto, during a fire and no person,
except City officials and employees in the discharge of their
duties, shall have the right to enter within the ropes surrounding
such fire, except owners of property threat, or such other persons
as may obtain permission of the chief or his assistant. Said
officers shall have the authority to take into custody all persons
persisting in any interference with the work of the Fire Company;
and upon conviction such person shall be fined not less
than $5.00 nor more than $10.00. It shall be the duty of the
chief, or whoever shall act as such, to keep a record of all fires,
their place and time of occurrence, and shall ascertain if possible,
the cause of such fire, the amount of insurance, if any, and actual
loss, and make report thereof to the City Manager for each
month by the tenth of the next month. He shall make such reports
to the State Commissioner of Insurance as may be required
of him by state law. Said chief shall deliver to his successor in
office records pertaining to the Fire Department which may be in
his control.
(a) For the purpose for which the Department exists, the
chief shall have full supervision of all apparatus pertaining to
the Fire Department.
(b) All orders deemed necessary by the Council for the good
of the Department shall be issued through the chief or his assistant,
to the employees or subordinates; but if the chief or his assistant
refuses or neglects to communicate such orders by posting
or otherwise as the Council may direct, then the Council may
cause its orders to be issued in such manner as it may direct.
(c) Any charges preferred in writing against a member of the
Fire Department for non-performance of duty, shall be brought
before the Fire Company for action at its next meeting not less
than ten days after such charges are preferred; the action of the
Fire Company in the premises must be referred to the Council at
its next regular meeting for confirmation or further investigation
or proceedings therein. In the event of failure to refer the decision
of the Company as above provided the Council may proceed
with the investigation de novo.
Sec. 444. Eligibility and oath of chief and assistant.
No person shall be eligible to the office of chief who shall not
have been an active member of the Fire Department for three
years. No person shall be eligible to the office of assistant chief
who shall not have been an active member of the Fire Department
for at least one year. The chief of the Fire Department
and the assistant chief shall, before entering upon the discharge
of their duties as such, take an oath as prescribed for all other
offices, to faithfully perform the duties of the office to which they
have been elected.
Sec. 445. Foreman of fire house, his duties, etc.
The chief of the Fire Company shall designate one of the employees
at the fire house as foreman in charge of the fire house;
said appointment to be reported to the Council for confirmation
or rejection, the same as in case of the election of employees by
the Fire Company, whose duty it shall be to see that the sundry
apparatus is kept in good condition and ready at any and all times
to respond to a call; and to see that the apparatus are kept in good
condition and properly cared for at and after returning from a
fire; that the hose is properly dried out; that the house is properly
cared for, and perform such other duties as may be necessary
to keep the fire house and apparatus in good condition.
Sec. 446. Duty of chief in connection with explosives.
It shall be the duty of the chief of the Fire department and
the assistant chief to familiarize themselves with the premises
where high explosives are sold or stored and to see that the ordinances
governing storing or handling of explosives are properly
carried out.
Sec. 447. The fire chief or his designated assistants to
make inspection of buildings, premises, streets and
alleys, for the purpose of seeing that the laws and
ordinances for protection against fires or fire hazards
are obeyed, and order abatement of any fire
hazard. Penalty for failure to obey such order.
It shall be the duty of the chief of the Fire Department or his
assistants, designated by him, to make such inspections of buildings,
premises, streets and alleys as the City Manager may direct,
for the purpose of determining whether or not the laws and ordinances
for the protection against fires or fire hazards are obeyed.
Whenever, in their opinion the laws or ordinances for the protection
against fires or fire hazards are not being obeyed or when
in their opinion, any combustible materials are collected and deposited,
or any other condition exists which may endanger the security
of the City from fires they shall report the same to the
City Manager who shall direct the tenant, occupant or owner of
said premises, or in case of such deposits being found in streets
or alleys, the tenant, occupant or owner of the building or premises
adjacent thereto, to comply with said laws and ordinances or
to remove such combustible materials and in case of such tenants,
occupants or owners refusal so to do they shall cause same to be
removed at the expense of such tenant, occupant, or owner who
shall, in addition be fined not less than $5.00 nor more than $50.00
for such neglect or refusal.
The occupant or owner of any such building or premises who
shall fail or refuse to permit such inspection to be made shall be
fined not less than $5.00 nor more than $100.00 and each day of
such refusal shall constitute a separate offense.
Sec. 448. Right of way in going to fire.
In the event of an alarm of fire, the apparatus of the Fire Department
in going to a fire shall have the right of way in and
upon the streets, lanes, alleys, squares and railroad crossings.
No person shall obstruct or neglect to make way for such apparatus,
under a penalty of not more than $20.00 for each offense.
Sec. 449. Fire apparatus—designation and speed of in
going to fire.
No vehicle shall be construed as part of the apparatus of the
Fire Department which is not driven by a driver in the employ of
the said Department, provided the chief of the Fire Department,
in an emergency, impress a vehicle for his own personal use in
going to a fire, in which case the speed shall not exceed that of
the other apparatus of the Department.
Sec. 450. Streets occupied by department at work.
It shall be unlawful, without the authority of the officer in
command, for any person or persons to drive a vehicle or ride
through the streets in which the Fire Department assembles for
the purpose of extinguishing a fire. Any person or persons violating
this section, shall, upon conviction, be fined not less than
$2.00 nor more than $10.00 for each offense.
Sec. 451. Obstruction of access to fire plugs.
Any person or persons who shall place or cause to be placed
around or near any fire plugs of the City any goods or other thing
in such manner as to obstruct the free access to said plugs, shall
be subject to a fine of not less than $2.00 nor more than $10.00.
Sec. 452. Fire hose on the street.
Whenever any hose of the Fire Department is laid upon any
street, it shall not be lawful for any wagon, cart, street railroad
car or other vehicle to pass over the same. The owner or driver
of any wagon, cart, street railroad car or other vehicle, who shall
drive or cause the same to be driven over said hose, shall, upon
conviction, be fined not less than $10.00 nor more than $100.00;
but nothing in this section shall be so construed as to prevent
street railroad cars from crossing said hose, when laid across
their track or tracks, provided they use a truck or jumper, so
as not to injure the hose of the Fire Department.
Sec. 453. Annual report and inventory.
The chief shall submit to the Council at its first regular meeting
in September of each year a report showing the number of
fires occurring during the previous year, the general condition of
the department, together with an inventory of all apparatus and
equipment, stating condition and estimated value, and such other
information as he may deem proper, or as the Council may from
time to time require.
