Provision of fire services.
1Provision of fire services.
(1)
It shall be the duty of every fire authority in Great Britain to make provision for fire-fighting purposes, and in particular every fire authority shall secure—
(a)
the services for their area of such a fire brigade and such equipment as may be necessary to meet efficiently all normal requirements;
(b)
the efficient training of the members of the fire brigade;
(c)
efficient arrangements for dealing with calls for the assistance of the fire brigade in case of fire and for summoning members of the fire brigade;
(d)
efficient arrangements for obtaining, by inspection or otherwise, information required for fire-fighting purposes with respect to the character of the buildings and other property in the area of the fire authority, the available water supplies and the means of access thereto, and other material local circumstances;
(e)
efficient arrangements for ensuring that reasonable steps are taken to prevent or mitigate damage to property resulting from measures taken in dealing with fires in the area of the fire authority;
(f)
efficient arrangements for the giving, when requested, of advice in respect of buildings and other property in the area of the fire authority as to fire prevention, restricting the spread of fires, and means of escape in case of fire.
(2)
For the purposes of such arrangements as are mentioned in paragraph (d) of the last foregoing subsection, any member of a fire brigade maintained in pursuance of this Act shall, if authorised in writing by the authority maintaining the brigade, have the like powers of entering premises as are conferred upon authorised officers of councils by section two hundred and eighty-seven of the M1Public Health Act, 1936; and accordingly that Act shall have effect as if the references in that section to an authorised officer of a council included references to a member of a fire brigade authorised as aforesaid, and as if among the purposes specified in subsection (1) of that section there were included the purposes of carrying out such arrangements as aforesaid.
(3)
The Secretary of State may, after consultation with the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council constituted under this Act, make regulations prescribing standards of efficiency with respect to any of the matters mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, and the standards may vary according to the requirements of, and the facilities available in, different kinds of locality; and any fire authority whose services are of a standard so prescribed shall, as respects the matter for which the standard is prescribed, be deemed to have complied with the provisions of subsection (1) of this section.
2Arrangements for mutual assistance.
(1)
It shall be the duty of fire authorities, so far as practicable, to join in the making of schemes (hereafter in this section referred to as '' reinforcement schemes '') for securing the rendering of mutual assistance for the purpose of dealing with fires occurring in the areas of authorities participating in a reinforcement scheme where either—
(a)
it is necessary to supplement the services provided under the last foregoing section by the authority in whose area the fire occurs, or
(b)
reinforcements at any fire can be more readily obtained from the resources of other authorities participating ' in the scheme than from those of the authority in whose area the fire occurs.
(2)
Any reinforcement scheme made under the last foregoing subsection shall be notified to the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State may direct that any such scheme notified to him shall have effect subject to such modifications as may be specified in the directions.
(3)
Where in the case of any fire authorities no reinforcement scheme has been made, or it appears to the Secretary of State that any such scheme is no longer satisfactory, the Secretary of State may, after affording an opportunity to all fire authorities appearing to him to be concerned to make representations to him, make a reinforcement scheme for the authorities in question.
(4)
A reinforcement scheme may make provision for apportioning between the fire authorities concerned, in such proportions as may be specified by or under the scheme, expenses incurred in taking measures to secure the efficient operation of the scheme.
(5)
A reinforcement scheme may contain such provisions requiring uniformity of equipment as appear to the Secretary of State to be necessary for the purpose of ensuring that the fire brigades affected will be able to render efficient assistance in pursuance of the scheme.
(6)
Where a reinforcement scheme has come into operation, it shall be the duty of the fire authorities to whom the scheme applies to carry it into effect.
(7)
Any reinforcement scheme may be varied by a subsequent such scheme made in the like manner and subject to the like provisions.
(8)
A fire authority may enter into arrangements with persons (not being other fire authorities) who maintain fire brigades to secure, on such terms as to payment or otherwise as may be provided by or under the arrangements, the provision by those persons of assistance for the purpose of dealing with fires occurring in the area of the authority where either—
(a)
it is necessary to supplement the services provided by the authority under the last foregoing section, or
(b)
reinforcements at any fire occurring in the area of the authority can be more readily obtained from the resources of the said persons than from the resources of the authority.
(9)
The Secretary of State may, for the purposes of his functions under this section, hold such public local inquiries as he thinks fit.
3Supplementary powers of fire authorities.
(1)
The powers of a fire authority shall include power—
(a)
to provide accommodation for the fire brigade for their area and its equipment, including housing and other accommodation for members of the brigade and furniture reasonably required for such accommodation ;
(b)
to pay to persons, riot being members of a fire brigade maintained in pursuance of this Act, who render services for fire-fighting purposes such rewards as the authority think fit;
(c)
to provide and maintain fire alarms in such positions in any street or public place as they think proper, and to affix any such fire alarm to any wall or fence adjoining a street or public place;
(d)
to employ the fire brigade maintained by them, or use any equipment so maintained, outside their area;
(e)
to employ the fire brigade maintained by them, or use any equipment so maintained, for purposes other than fire-fighting purposes for which it appears to the authority to be suitable and, if they think fit, to make such charge as they may determine for any services rendered in the course of such employment or use.
(2)
Before exercising the powers conferred by paragraph (c) of the last foregoing subsection in relation to any trunk road a fire authority shall obtain the consent of the Minister of Transport, and before exercising those powers in relation to any road maintained by a highway authority, other than the Minister of Transport or the fire authority, they shall obtain the consent of the highway authority maintaining the road; and—
(a)
without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this subsection the said powers shall not be exercised in a county district except after consultation with the council of the county district,
(b)
the said powers shall not be exercised except after consultation with the chief officer of police for the area in which the fire alarms are to be placed,
(c)
nothing in the said paragraph (c) shall affect any privilege conferred on the M2Postmaster General by the Telegraph Act, 1869.
(3)
Before making any standing arrangements for the exercise of the powers conferred by paragraph (e) of subsection (1) of this section, a fire authority shall obtain the approval of the Secretary of State to the proposed arrangements unless they have been approved by the Minister in charge of any other Government department.
(4)
Save as expressly provided in this Act, a fire authority shall not make any charge for services rendered by the authority.
(5)
A fire authority may be authorised by the Minister of Health to purchase compulsorily any land, whether situate within or without the area of the authority, which is required by them for the purposes of their functions under this Act, and the M3Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) Act, 1946, shall apply as if this Act had been in force immediately before the commencement of that Act:
Provided that section two of that Act (which confers temporary powers for speedy acquisition of land in urgent cases) shall not apply to any compulsory purchase of land under this Act.