§ 2673 - Powers and duties during hazardous chemical or substance incident, fires; threat of fires or explosions - Vermont Statutes

§ 2673. Powers and duties during hazardous chemical or substance incident, fires; threat of fires or explosions

(a) The chief engineer, or in the chief's absence, the assistant highest in rank present at a hazardous chemical or substance incident or fire, shall have charge of the fire apparatus and of the companies and persons attending the hazardous chemical or substance incident or fire for the purpose of containing, controlling or extinguishing the same, and may remove goods and effects out of a building or place endangered by the hazardous chemical or substance incident or fire. The chief engineer may cause to be pulled down or removed, such buildings as the chief deems necessary to prevent the spread of hazardous material or fire, and for such purposes, may require the assistance of inhabitants of the district. During the hazardous chemical or substance incident or fire, the chief engineer may suppress tumults or disorders and direct the labor of inhabitants present in such fire district.

(b) Where an emergency situation exists in a municipality and there is no fire, but there is an imminent threat of a hazardous chemical or substance incident, fire or explosion, the ranking member of the fire company responding will be in charge as long as the imminent threat continues. Where there is a threat of bombing, the fire department shall surrender responsibility to the police department having jurisdiction in the area.

(c) The ranking member of a fire department shall have authority to direct, control and supervise traffic at the scene of a fire or other emergency to which a fire department has responded.

(d) When the chief engineer determines that the company lacks either the training, expertise or equipment to contain or control a hazardous material spill or discharge, the chief engineer may request the assistance of the state HAZMAT emergency operations team. The team shall dispatch a regional HAZMAT response team to respond with the specific assistance requested, and the personnel shall serve at the direction of the chief engineer. The chief engineer may transfer control of the hazardous material incident to the regional HAZMAT response team crew chief at the scene if the chief engineer has responded and implemented the plan for the incidents and has exhausted all of the resources, including available mutual aid. The senior state official shall retain control until the imminent threat is eliminated. (Amended 1961, No. 52, § 1; 1975, No. 222 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 7, 1976; 1991, No. 29, § 1; 1993, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 10, eff. June 14, 1994.)