Chief of the fire department; fire chief; powers.

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 54-43

in effect

Sec. 54-43. - Chief of the fire department; fire chief; powers. (a) The chief of the fire department, who may be known and referred to as the fire chief, shall be the commanding officer of the fire department and shall be responsible to the mayor and city council for the administration, training, discipline, morale and effective deployment and utilization of all personnel of the department and for the maintenance and effective deployment and utilization of the property, equipment and apparatus of the fire department. (b) The fire chief shall have all such powers as may be necessary and lawful to meet the responsibilities imposed upon him by this section, including, but not limited to, the following: (1) The fire chief shall have absolute command, control, management, assignment to duties and supervision of every officer, member and employee of the fire department during a fire and at all practices and drills, and during all hours when such personnel are on duty. (2) The fire chief shall have absolute control, authority and command of the police officers present at the scene of any fire during the time and continuance of any fire, conflagration and all orders issued by him to such police officers, and to other persons present, shall be explicitly obeyed and performed by them. (3) The fire chief shall have supervision of the engine houses, vehicles, and all apparatus and equipment belonging to the fire department. The fire chief shall be responsible for the serviceable condition of all equipment belonging to the fire department, and the fire chief shall be responsible that every piece of fire apparatus is equipped at all times with the necessary wrenches and all other equipment belonging to that piece of apparatus and necessary in the successful fighting of fire. (4) The fire chief shall have supervision over all repairs to apparatus and the charge of all supplies and shall issue them upon his or her own discretion or upon the authority of the city council to the units of the fire department. (5) The fire chief shall be responsible for the keeping of necessary records for the fire department, which shall be subject to the inspection of the mayor and members of the city council at any time. The fire chief shall record and report annually to the city council a statement of all fires occurring since the previous report, the units and personnel responding to alarms, the loss and insurance as far as ascertained, the causes of any such fires, together with such suggestions as he may deem advisable to bring the number of fires to a minimum. The fire chief shall also keep at his or her office such books or other records as the city council may prescribe. (6) The fire chief shall be the municipal fire marshal and may vest the authority of the municipal fire marshal to the members of the fire prevention bureau who meet the training requirements, consistent with the provisions of W. Va. Code § 8-15-1 and section 54-145 of this Code. (7) The fire chief shall exercise and perform such other functions, powers and duties as may be deemed appropriate to carry out the purpose of this article. (Ord. No. 6228, § 12-29, 5-6-1996; Bill No. 7871, 5-18-2020)

Source: City of Charleston, West Virginia, City Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/wv/charleston/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIICOOR_CH54FIPRPR_ARTIIFIDE_DIV1GE_S54-43CHFIDEFICHPOFetched: 11/7/2026