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Ministry of Defence fire-fightersU.K.

16Powers of Ministry of Defence fire-fighters in an emergencyU.K.

(1)A Ministry of Defence fire-fighter who is authorised in writing by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this section may do anything the fire-fighter reasonably believes to be necessary—

(a)if the fire-fighter reasonably believes a fire to have broken out or to be about to break out, for the purpose of extinguishing or preventing the fire or protecting life or property;

(b)if the fire-fighter reasonably believes a road traffic accident to have occurred, for the purpose of rescuing people or protecting them from serious harm;

(c)for the purpose of preventing or limiting damage to property resulting from action taken as mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b).

(2)In particular, a fire-fighter may under subsection (1)—

(a)enter premises or a place, by force if necessary, without the consent of the owner or occupier of the premises or place;

(b)move or break into a vehicle without the consent of its owner;

(c)close a road;

(d)stop and regulate traffic;

(e)restrict the access of persons to premises or a place.

(3)In this section—

(4)The Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006 is amended as follows.

(5)In section 1(2) (obstructing or hindering certain emergency workers)—

(a)after paragraph (a) insert—

(aa)that of a Ministry of Defence fire-fighter (as defined in section 16 of the Armed Forces Act 2016);, and

(b)in paragraph (b), after “paragraph (a)” insert “ or (aa) ”.

(6)In section 7 (extent etc) at the end insert—

(4)The following extend to Scotland—

(a)sections 1 to 4 so far as they relate to obstructing or hindering a Ministry of Defence fire-fighter or a person assisting such a fire-fighter, and

(b)this section.