Marin County Municipal Code Ch. 16.08 Fire Department

To administer the state and county fire laws and ordinances there is created in and for the county, a department to be known as the Marin County Fire Department.

(Ord. 682 § 1, 1954)

It is the public policy of the county to prevent waste of public funds and resources, and menace to life and property by requiring that fire burning uncontrolled upon lands within this county be extinguished or controlled. The Marin County Fire Department shall have administrative jurisdiction for the control and prevention of fire on all lands in the County of Marin which are not included within incorporated cities or towns or within incorporated fire districts, or on lands within said county which are recognized by the state as areas of state administrative jurisdiction, unless administrative jurisdiction has been assumed by the board of supervisors through agreement or contract.

(Ord. 682 § 2, 1954)

Officers of the Marin County Fire Department, if no representative of the property owner or management is present, or if such owner or management is not taking proper and skillful measures to extinguish or control any uncontrolled fire, as defined by Sec. 4164, Pub. Res. Code of California, shall take charge and direct control activity thereof.

(Ord. 682 § 3, 1954)

The Marin County Fire Department shall be administered by a fit and competent person to be known as the chief of the department who shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the board of supervisors.

Duties and responsibilities of the chief of the department shall be as follows:

(a) Subject to the provisions of Chapter 2.56, he shall make appointments and dismissals of department personnel in accordance with the policies and authorizations of the board of supervisors.

(b) He shall direct and supervise the personnel of the department in the methods and manner of performing the duties imposed upon the department by law and by the administrative policies of the board of supervisors.

(c) He shall report to the board of supervisors at such times as it may require, on all phases of the activities of the department.

(d) He shall collect data relating to fire occurrence and causes, fire hazards created by land use, expense incurred by the county and state in extinguishing or controlling fires, acreages of lands burned and estimate of loss or damage occurring from fires.

(e) He shall keep records and make reports as may be required by the board of supervisors or any fire control agency with whom the board of supervisors may have an agreement or contract.

(f) He shall provide for training of department personnel in uniform, modern methods of fire control and prevention.

(g) He shall take charge and be responsible for the care and maintenance of all property and equipment of the department.

(Ord. 682 § 4, 1954)

Additional personnel of the department shall include the following:

(a) An assistant chief who shall be appointed by the board of supervisors upon the recommendation of the chief of the department, and whose duty will be to follow out the instructions of and assist the chief in performing the duties imposed upon him by the department;

(b) A dispatcher who shall be appointed by the chief upon authorization of the board of supervisors whose duty will be to, under the direction of the chief, maintain the office including the keeping of and compiling of records and reports as may be required by the chief;

(c) The number of fire wardens and other employees as may now or hereafter be authorized by the board of supervisors whose duty shall be to follow and carry out the instructions of the chief.

(Ord. 682 § 5, 1954)

All officers of the Marin County Fire Department, having taken the oath of office, shall have the power and authority of peace officers within the county to make arrests for violations of state or county fire laws now or hereafter enacted and may serve all processes and notices which may be required by law relating to the enforcement of fire laws and ordinances.

(Ord. 682 § 6, 1954)

Officers and employees of the Marin County Fire Department who have the discretionary duty to enforce a statute or ordinance may, pursuant to Section 836.5 of the Penal Code and subject to the provisions hereof, arrest a person without a warrant whenever any such officer or employee has reasonable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed a misdemeanor in the officer's or employee's presence which he or she has the discretionary duty to enforce, and to issue a "notice to appear" and to release such person on his or her written promise to appear in court, pursuant to Section 853.6 of the Penal Code.

No officer or employee shall be allowed by his or her superior to exercise the arrest and citation authority herein conferred, unless such officer or employee is within a classification of officers and employees designated by the board of supervisors to exercise such arrest and citation authority as to specified misdemeanor violations.

The county fire chief or his designee shall establish and cause to be administered a special enforcement training program designed to instruct each officer or employee who will exercise such arrest and citation authority, regarding the provisions of the statutes and ordinances to be enforced, the evidentiary prerequisites to proper prosecution for violations thereof, the appropriate procedure for making arrests or otherwise prudently exercising such arrest and citation authority, and the legal and practical ramifications and limitations attendant thereto. Any such officers or employees shall be appropriately instructed to deposit executed citations or notices with the district attorney's office for filing with the court, after review for legal sufficiency.

(Ord. 3021 § 1, 1990: Ord. 2744 § 5 (part), 1982; Ord. 2575 § 1, 1980)

(Ord. No. 3550, § II, 2010; Ord. No. 3608, § II, 2013; Ord. No. 3659, § II, 2016; Ord. No. 3719, § I, 2019; Ord. No. 3775, § I, 11-15-22)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 3719, § I, adopted Nov. 19, 2019, amended the title of § 16.08.065 to read as herein set out. Former § 16.08.065 was titled, "Issuance of citations by designated officers and employees for violations of the International Fire Code and California Fire Code."

Any person violating the provisions of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof is punishable by fine not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than five days, nor more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(Ord. 682 § 18, 1954)

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as limiting or prohibiting the Marin County Fire Department from assisting another fire department within the county upon the request of the proper authority of such department, or assisting upon request of proper authority any adjacent county or state fire control agency in accordance with mutual aid plans and law.

(Ord. 682 § 19, 1954)

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this chapter. The board of supervisors of the county declares that it would have passed this chapter and each section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase hereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared unconstitutional.

(Ord. 682 § 21, 1954)