ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 384
(Senators Unger, Snyder, Stollings, Green and Barnes, original sponsors)
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[Passed April 7, 2009; in effect ninety days from passage. ]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §29-3A-1 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the control of an emergency
scene; providing for transfer of authority to permit safe
traffic flow; and providing for the use of property to prevent
the spread of a fire.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §29-3A-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3A. AUTHORITY OF LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENTS.
§29-3A-1. Authority of fire officers in charge of fire, service
call or other emergency; definition.
(a) While any fire department recognized or approved by the
West Virginia State Fire Commission is responding to, operating at
or returning from a fire, fire hazard, service call or other
emergency, the fire chief, any other elected or appointed fire line
officer or any member serving in the capacity of appointed fire line officer in charge, except on industrial property where trained
industrial fire-fighting personnel are present, shall have the
authority:
(1) To control and direct firefighting and fire control
activities at such scene;
(2) To order any person or persons to leave any building or
place in the vicinity of such scene for the purpose of protecting
such persons from injury;
(3) To blockade any public highway, street or private
right-of-way temporarily while at such scene in accordance with the
following provisions:
(A) If the emergency incident occurs on a public highway and
it is reasonably expected that the highway may be closed for a
period of at least two hours or upon the request of the incident
commander acting in accordance with the provisions of the National
Incident Management System in effect as of December 31, 2008, the
Secretary of Transportation or his or her designee(s) shall be
notified of the incident as soon as possible;
(B) The Secretary of Transportation or his or her designee(s)
shall respond to the notification of the incident in order to assist
with the restoration of traffic flow or with the development and
implementation of a traffic diversion plan;
(C) All authorized persons who respond to the scene of the
emergency incident and all of their available resources will become
part of the incident command system;
(D) All of those persons are to collaborate and cooperate with the incident commander and appropriate law-enforcement personnel at
the emergency incident scene in order to restore traffic flow as
soon as possible after the scene is deemed safe by the incident
commander; and
(E) Once the incident commander has declared the emergency
incident scene to be safe, the control of the traffic at the
emergency incident scene will be transferred to the Department of
Transportation or the appropriate law-enforcement agency
;
(4) To enter the building, structure, enclosure or other
property of any person or persons at any time of the day or night,
without liability, while operating at such scene;
(5) To enter any building, including private dwellings, or upon
any premises where an emergency exists, or where there is reasonable
cause to believe an emergency exists, for the purpose of eliminating
the emergency;
(6) To enter any building, including private dwellings, or
premises near the scene of the emergency for the purpose of
protecting the building or premises or for the purpose of
eliminating the emergency which is in progress in another building
or premises;
(7) To inspect for preplanning all buildings, structures or
other places in their fire district, excepting, however, the
interior of a private dwelling, with the consent of the owner or
occupant, where any combustible materials, including waste paper,
rags, shavings, waste, leather, rubber, crates, boxes, barrels,
rubbish or other combustible material that is or may become dangerous as a fire menace to such building or buildings, structure
or other places has been allowed to accumulate or where such chief
or his or her designated representative has reason to believe that
such material of a combustible nature has accumulated or is liable
to be accumulated;
(8) To direct the removal, use or destruction of any fence,
house, motor vehicle or other thing which may reasonably be
determined to be necessary to be pulled down, destroyed or removed
to prevent the further spread of the fire or hazardous condition;
(9) To request and be supplied with additional materials such
as sand, treatments, chemicals, etc., and special equipment when
dealing with an accident on a public highway or railroad
right-of-way when it is deemed a necessity to prevent the further
spread of the fire or hazardous condition, the cost of which to be
borne by the owner of the instrumentality which caused the fire or
hazardous condition; and
(10) To order disengagement or discouplement of any convoy,
caravan or train of vehicles, craft or railway cars if deemed a
necessity in the interest of safety of persons or property.
(b) As used in this article, the term "emergency" means a
situation in which the fire officer in charge knows or in which a
reasonable person would believe that there exists an imminent threat
of serious bodily harm or death to a person or significant damage
to property.
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