ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

SECTION

CHAPTER 209

FIRE SERVICES

[Assent 31st December, 1970]
[Commencement 6th April, 1972]

"Chief Fire Officer" means a Chief Fire Officer appointed to command a brigade under the provisions of this Act;

"Director of Fire Services" means the officer appointed to be the Director of Fire Services under section 3;

"equipment" includes vehicles;

"Fire Authority" means the Fire Authority established by section 3;

"fire brigade" and "brigade" include a volunteer fire brigade established under section 5 and a fire brigade other than a volunteer fire brigade established under section 6 but do not include any organisation of fire-fighting services within an airport;

"fire-fighting purpose" means the purpose of the extinction of fires and the protection of life and property in case of fire;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for the Police Department;

"section" means a section of this Act;

"street" includes any highway, including any highway over a bridge, and any road, lane, footway, square, court, alley or passage whether a thoroughfare or not;

"traffic" includes vehicular and pedestrian traffic and animals.

(2) The Fire Authority shall be responsible for the general supervision, maintenance and control of all fire brigades.

(3) There shall be a Director of Fire Services who shall be a senior officer in the Royal Bahamas Police Force and who shall be the executive officer of the Fire Authority and responsible to him for the general supervision, maintenance and control of all fire brigades and adviser to him on matters connected with fire fighting or fire prevention.

(4) The Director of Fire Services shall be ex officio a member of every fire brigade.

(2) A Chief Fire Officer shall, subject to the orders and directions of the Director of Fire Services, be responsible for-

(2) The Fire Authority may make available to a volunteer fire brigade any engines or equipment acquired by the expenditure of any public funds approved by Parliament for the purpose.

(3) Every member of a volunteer fire brigade shall in the course of his duties under this Act obey the lawful orders of the Chief Fire Officer and of any other member senior in rank to himself and shall be subject to any regulations for the government, operation, control and discipline of volunteer fire brigades made under this Act.

(4) A member of a volunteer fire brigade shall not be deemed to be an officer in the public service by virtue only of the fact that he is such a member, but in the event of any such member being injured or killed while engaged in his duties as such a member under this Act he, or his personal representative, as the case may be, shall be entitled to be paid out of public funds such compensation as would have been payable under the Workmen's Compensation Act if he had been at the time of such injury or death a workman within the meaning of that Act, employed in the public service at a wage equivalent to the minimum salary entitlement of a constable in the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

(5) A member of a volunteer fire brigade shall be paid such remuneration or allowances as shall be prescribed by regulations made under this Act.

(6) The Director of Fire Services may detail a police officer to be attached for duty with any volunteer fire brigade, and during the period of any such attachment such police officer shall be under the command of the Chief Fire Officer of that Brigade.

(2) A fire brigade established under this section shall be furnished by the Fire Authority with engines, equipment and accommodation from any public funds approved by Parliament for the purpose.

(3) A fire brigade established under this section shall consist of a Chief Fire Officer and such other members as the Fire Authority may appoint from among members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

(4) A member of a fire brigade established under this section shall be subject to the provisions of the Police Act, and to any regulations made thereunder.

(2) Any person who obstructs or wilfully interferes with any member of a fire brigade who is engaged in operations for fire-fighting purposes shall be liable upon summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, and any such person may be removed, upon the orders of the senior fire brigade officer present, from the vicinity of any such operations by the use of such reasonable force as may be necessary to secure his removal.

(3) At any fire the senior fire brigade officer present shall have the sole charge and control of all operations for the extinction of the fire including the fixing of the positions of fire engines and apparatus, the attaching of hose to any water supply and the selection of the parts of the premises, objects. or places where the fire is or of adjoining premises, objects or places, against which the water is to be directed.

(4) Any person or body corporate undertaking to provide a public supply of water shall, on being required by any such senior fire brigade officer as is mentioned in subsection (3) to provide an increased supply and pressure of water for extinguishing a fire, take all the necessary steps to comply with that requirement and may for that purpose shut off the water from the mains and pipes in any area; and no authority or person shall be liable to any penalty or claim by reason of the interruption of the supply of water occasioned only by compliance by such person or body corporate with such a requirement.

(5) The senior officer of police present at any fire or, in the absence of any officer of police, the senior fire brigade officer present, may close to traffic any street or may stop or regulate the traffic in any street whenever in the opinion of that officer it is necessary or desirable to do so for fire-fighting purposes.

Provided that if any such owner is aggrieved as to the amount of any compensation so ascertained or if the appraisers so chosen fail to agree upon the amount of compensation, such owner may appeal to the Supreme Court within such time and in such manner as may be provided by rules made under section 76 of the Supreme Court Act.