Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity of Tamarac Ordinance O-1975-033This Ordinance Introduced By: i TAMARAC, FLORIDA ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE CREATING THE UREA U OF FIRE PROTECTION -FIRE PROTECTION DIVISION OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: PROVIDING FOR A FIRE CHIEF, WHO SHALL BE FIRE WAR- DEN: PROVIDING FOR SUBORDINATE OFFICERS, FIREMEN AND EMPLOYEES; PROVIDING FOR THE ADOPTION OF THAT CERTAIN CODE KNOWN AS THE "FIRE PREVENTION CODE" RECOMMENDED BY THE AMERICAN INSURANCE ASSOCIATION; PROVIDING FOR THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE "FIRE PREVENTION CODE"; PROVIDING FOR THE MODIFICATION OF THE "FIRE PREVENTION CODE"; PROVIDING FOR APPEAL AS TO THE DECISION OF THE BUREAU OF FIRE PREVENTION; PROVIDING FOR PER- MIT FEES; PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR VIO- LATIONS; PROVIDING FOR THE REPEAL OF CONFLICTING ORDINANCES, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Tamarac, Florida, is desirous of protecting the citizens of the City of Tamarac from loss of person and property due to fire, riot, conflagation and ex- plosion and similar emergencies, and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Tamarac, Florida, deems it advisable to create a Bureau of Fire Protection -Fire Divi- sion within the Department of Public Safety of the City of Tamarac, and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Tamarac, Florida, upon investigation and inquiry, deems it advisable to adopt, by ref- erence, the "Fire Prevention Code" recommended by the American Insur- ance Association, and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Tamarac, Florida, deems it advisable to provide a full scheme of fire protection for the citizenry of the City of Tamarac, NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA: SECTION 1: Creation of Bureau of Fire Protection -Fire Division: There is hereby created within the Department of Public Safety of the City of Tamarac a bureau to be known as the "Bureau of Fire Protection -Fire Division". SECTION 2: Organization; Qualifications and Duties of Fire Chief: A. General Organization: The Bureau of Fire Pro- tection -Fire Division and the full fire force thereof shall con- sist of a Chief, who shall be Fire Warden, and as many subordinate officers, firemen and employees as the City Manager shall, from time to time determine. B. Chief; appointment, qualification, removal. The Fire Chief of the Bureau of Fire Protection -Fire Division shall be appointed by the City Manager of the City of Tamarac and shall be subject to removal by said City Manager. The Fire Chief shall be technically qualified by training and experience and shall have the ability to command men and hold their respect and confidence. The Fire Chief shall be held accountable to the City Manager only and shall make written and verbal reports thereto as the City Manager may require and direct. C. Duties of Fire Chief. (1) Rules. The Fire Chief shall formulate a set of rules and regulations to govern the fire department, and shall be responsible to the City Manager for the attendance, morale and general efficiency of the fire department, including the employ- ees and firemen thereof. (2) Personnel. The Fire Chief shall have command of all fire fighting personnel, both paid and volunteer, if any. The officers, employees and volunteer members, if any, of the Bureau of Fire Protection -Fire Division shall be under the directions and control of the Fire Chief. The Fire Chief shall determine the number and kind of companies of which the fire de- partment is to be composed and shall determine the response of such companies to alarms. (3) Inspections. The Fire Chief shall inspect, or cause to be inspected, any and all buildings which legally may be inspected, and shall have the right to enter all buildings and premises at all reasonable hours for the purposes of making inspec- tions, and to serve written notice upon the owner or occupant �A= thereof to abate, within a time specified, any and all fire hazards which may be found. Any persons so served with a notice to abate a hazard or hazards, shall comply therewith and promptly notify the Fire Chief of such compliance. (4) Right to summon to Court. The Fire Chief shall be and is hereby empowered to summon to Court any and all per- sons who may deny him the right of entry at a reasonable hour for the purposes of making a fire inspection and also to summon to Court any and all persons who have not abated a violation of a City or State Fire Code within the time specified in the notice provided. (5) Investigation of fire. The Fire Chief shall investigate or cause to be investigated any and all fires of a suspicious nature, and the Fire Chief shall file a report of such investigation. The Fire Chief shall assist other proper authorities in any investigation which are in the interest of suppressing the crime of arson. (6) Apprehension, arrests of persons suspected_ of arson. The Fire Chief shall be and is hereby empowered to appre- hend and/or arrest any and all persons suspected of the crime of F-MMONV (7) Records and reports on fire prevention and suppression of arson. The Fire Chief shall compile and record or cause to be compiled and recorded all statistics and information which may be relevant to the prevention of fire and suppression of the crime of arson within the City of Tamarac. The Fire Chief shall compile and submit a monthly and annual report on fire pre- vention and arson suppression within the City of Tamarac. (8) Response to fire calls. The Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief shall be on call twenty-four (24) hours a day and one of them will respond to each and every fire call. (9) Records and reports. The Fire Chief shall see that complete records are kept of all fires, inspections, appa- ratus and minor equipment, personnel and other information about the work of the Bureau of Fire Protection -Fire Division. The Fire Chief shall report monthly to the City Manager the conditions of the appa- ratus and equipment; the number of fires during the month, their - 3 - location and cause, and the date of same and loss occasioned thereby; the number and purpose of all other fire runs made, and the number of members responding to each fire or other fire run, and any changes in membership of the Bureau of Fire Protection -Fire Division; and shall make a complete annual report to the City Council within one (1) month after the close of the fiscalyear, such report to include the information specified above, together with comparative data for previous years and recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the Bureau of Fire Protection -Fire Division. SECTION 3: Adoption of Fire Prevention Code: The City Council of the City of Tamarac, Florida, does hereby adopt,by reference, for the purpose of prescribing regulations governing conditions hazardous to the life and property from fire or explo- sion, that certain code known as the "Fire Prevention Code" recom- mended by the American Insurance Association, being more particu- larly described as the current addition thereof and the whole thereof, save and except such portions as are hereinafter deleted, modified or amended in and by this Chapter, and the same is and are hereby adopted and incorporated herein as if same were set out in length and spread upon the pages hereof, and the provisions thereof shall be controlling within the municipal boundaries of the City of Tamarac. SECTION 4: Modification of and Amendment to Regulations of the Fire Prevention Code: The City Council of the City of Tam- arac, Florida, may, from time to time, by ordinance, modify or amend the Fire Prevention Code, and any part thereof, as inthe discretion of the City Council is necessary for the continued protection of the citizenry of the City of Tamarac. SECTION 5: Exce tions from Regulations of the Fire Pre- vention Code: The firemen -inspectors of the Bureau of Fire Pro- tection -Fire Division shall have the power to recommend modification of any of the provisions of the Fire Prevention Code, upon application, in writing, by the owner or lessee, or a duly authorized agent there- for,of property which is subject to the regulations of said Code, when the requirements and regulations of said Code, when applied to such property, present practical difficulties in the way of carrying out the strict letter of the Code and that because of the location, character or nature of such property the owner or lessee thereof cannot com- ply with the strict application of the requirements of the Code; provided, however, that in every event the spirit of the Code shall be observed, public safety secured, and substantial justice done. The particulars of such modification, when granted or allowed, and the decision of the firemen -inspectors of the Bureau of Fire Pre- vention theron shall be entered upon the record of the Bureau and fully executed copies thereof shall be furnished to the applicant and to the City Manager. SECTION 6: Appeals from Decisions of the Bureau of Fire Prevention: Whenever the firemen -inspectors of the Bureau of Fire Prevention shall disapprove any application or refuse to grant a license or permit applied for, or when it is claimed that the pro- visions of the Fire Prevention Code have been misconstrued or wrongfully interpreted or wrongfully applied, the applicant may appeal from the decision of the firemen -inspectors of the Bureau of Fire Prevention to the City Council of the City of Tamarac, with- in thirty (30) days from the date of the disapproval or refusal to grant a license or permit. The City Council shall hear said appeal at it's next regularly scheduled City Council meeting, or at any special meeting called for that purpose, and the decision of said City Council as to the issue on appeal shall be final. SECTION 7: Applications: The provisions of the Fire Prevention Code hereby adopted, shall apply equally to both public and private property. It shall apply to all new structures and the occupants thereof, including all buildings, structures and equipment. In addition, the provisions of the Fire Prevention Code J hereby adopted shall apply to existing structures, and the occupants thereof, including buildings, structures and equipment which con- stitute a clear and present hazard to life and/or to property. SECTION S: Enforcement: The Fire Prevention Code and all provisions thereof shall be enforced by the paid City firemen of the City of Tamarac, including the Fire Chief, and said enforce- ment shall be under the general supervision of the paid firemen - inspectors of the Bureau. Said firemen --inspectors shall have the MM right to issue citation for violations of the provision of the Fire Prevention Code. SECTION 9: Violations; Penalties: Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of the Fire Prevention Code hereby adopted or who shall fail to comply therewith, or who shall violate or fail to comply with any other order made thereunder, or who shall build in violation of any detailed statement of specifications or plans submitted and approved thereunder, or any certificate or per- mit issued thereunder, and from which no appeal has been taken, shall severally for each and every such violation and non-compliance, re- spectively, be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than twenty-five ($25.00) dollars nor more than five hundred ($500.00) dollars or by imprisonment for a period not to exceed ninety (90) days or by both such fine and imprisonment. The im- position of one penalty for any violations shall not excuse the violation or permit said violation to continue; all such persons shall be required to correct or remedy such violations or defects within a reasonable time; when not otherwise specified, each ten (10) days that prohibitive conditions are maintained and allowed to exist shall constitute a separate offense. Furthermore, the application of the above penalties shall not be held to prevent the enforced removal of prohibited conditions. For the purposes of this section, the term "person" shall include natural and artificial per- sons, partnerships, joint ventures, associations and corporations. SECTION 10: Should any section or provision of this Ordinance or any portion hereof or any paragraph, sentence or word be declared by a Court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remainder hereof as a whole or any part hereof other than the part declared to be invalid. SECTION 11: All Ordinances or parts of Ordinances, all sections of the Tamarac City Code or parts thereof in conflict herewith be and the same are bereby repealed. SECTION 12: This Ordinance shall become effective immed- iately upon its final passage. - 6 - PASSED ON FIRST READING this PASSED ON SECOND READING this PASSED ON THIRD READING this ATTEST: UITA CLERK I HEREBY CERTIFY that T have 77 Ll I RECORD OF COUNCIL VOTE Ro - 7 -