University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXX.

FIRE DEPARTMENT.

Sec. 556. Fire department—control and supervision.

The Fire Department of the City of Charlottesville shall be
under the control of the Committee on Fire Department of the
City Council, subject only to the supervision of the Council. All
drivers, enginemen or other persons in the employ of the Fire Department
shall be appointed by the Committee on Fire Department,
and such appointments, together with the salaries to be paid, shall
be reported to the Council for confirmation. Such persons or employees
shall hold their positions for one year, or until severally
removed by the committee. The said committee shall, subject to
the provisions of these ordinances, have full power to provide
supplies, tools, implements, and apparatus of any and all kinds incident
to or to be used in the control, prevention and extinguishing
of fires; and to buy, sell, construct and repair and have the care
of the same, and to take any and all such action in the premises as
it may deem to be reasonably necessary and proper.

Sec. 557. 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. 558. Chief—his duty and powers.

The chief, or in his absence, the assistant chief, shall have control
over all members of the fire company while in service at fires
and may for insubordination thereat, suspend any member from
service for such 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 shall have the
right to enter within the ropes surrounding such fires, except
owners of property thereat, or such other persons as may obtain
permission of the chief or his assistant. Said officers shall have
authority to take into custody all persons persisting in any interference
with the work of the fire company; and upon conviction,
any person so offending shall be fined not less than $5. 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 the actual loss; and said record shall at
all times be kept open for the inspection of members of the Council.
Said chief shall deliver to his successor in office said records
pertaining to the Fire Department, which may be in his control.

Sec. 559. 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 five 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 three years. 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 officers, to
faithfully perform the duties of the office to which they have been
elected.

Sec. 560. Foreman of fire house, his duties, etc.

The Committee on Fire Department of the Council shall designate
one of the employees at the fire house as foreman in charge of
the fire house, whose duty shall be to see that the sundry apparatus
is kept in good condition and ready at all times to respond to a
call; to see that the horses are kept in good condition and are
properly cared for at and after the return 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. 561. Duty of chief in connection with explosives.

It shall be the duty of the Chief of the Fire Department to
familiarize himself with the premises where high explosives are
sold and stored and to see that the ordinances under "Public
Safety" governing storing of explosives are properly carried out.

Sec. 562. 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 for each offense.

Sec. 563. 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
ordinance, shall, upon conviction, be fined not less than $2 nor
more than $10 for each offense.

Sec. 564. 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 nor more than $10.

Sec. 565. 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 nor more than $100; 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. 566. Monthly report.

The chief, through the Fire Committee, shall submit to the
Council at its regular meeting in each month a report of the number
of fires occurring during the previous month, and any other
facts he may deem necessary.

Sec. 567. Annual report and inventory.

The chief, through the Fire Committee, shall submit to the
Council at its 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, horses, etc., stating condition and estimated value,
and such other information as he may deem proper, or as the
Council may from time to time require.