Title 20, Title 20: Internal Security and Public Safety

§ 2485. Officers generally A fire district shall elect at its first meeting and at each annual meeting thereafter a clerk, a treasurer, and a collector of taxes. Such fire district may elect a chief engineer and such assistant engineers as are necessary, whether or not they are i…

§ 2486. Collector A fire district may elect the collector of town taxes, although he or she is not an inhabitant of the district, to be collector of fire district taxes. If he or she accepts the office, he or she shall have the powers and be subject to the duties imposed upon fir…

§ 2487. Clerk The clerk shall keep a record of the meetings, votes, and proceedings of such district for the inspection of the inhabitants thereof.

§ 2488. Board of tax abatement The board for the abatement of taxes of a fire district shall consist of the prudential committee, the clerk of the committee, the justices of the peace, and listers residing in the district. The board may abate taxes accruing to such municipality i…

§ 2489. Fire districts; two or more towns (a) Where the limits of a proposed fire district include two or more towns, or portions of two or more towns, irrespective of whether the towns are situated in different counties, the application set forth in section 2481 of this title sh…

§ 2541. Formation At an annual or special meeting, by a majority vote of those present and voting, towns may vote to form a fire district whose limits shall be the town limits, provided the warning for such meeting contains an article to that effect. (Amended 1971, No. 62, § 2, e…

§ 2542. Powers generally A town functioning as a fire district under this chapter shall have all the powers, so far as the same may be applicable, now given to fire districts by sections 2601-2607 and 2671-2675 of this title.

§ 2543. Board of fire commissioners When a town has so voted, the selectboard shall constitute a board of fire commissioners and may purchase all necessary and proper apparatus for the prevention and extinguishment of fires.

§ 2544. Employees The selectboard may appoint a chief engineer for such district and all other necessary firefighters and employees.

§ 2545. Expenditures All expenditures under sections 2541-2544 of this title shall be paid out of the general fund of the town unless the town by its vote shall otherwise direct.

§ 2601. Generally A fire district may vote to adopt the town manager system in compliance with 24 V.S.A. chapter 37. It may vote a tax upon the taxable estate for the protection of property in the district from damage by fire; for the acquisition, construction, and maintenance of…

§ 2602. Matters subject to regulation by bylaws A fire district at its meetings may regulate by bylaws the manufacture and safekeeping of ashes, gunpowder, and combustibles, and the preservation of buildings from fire by precautionary measures and by inspection.

§ 2603. Sprinkling and oiling streets If it so votes at its annual meeting, a fire district may empower its prudential committee to cause the streets of such district to be sprinkled or oiled to the extent deemed necessary by the committee.

§ 2604. Preservation of property In the name of the district, the prudential committee may make contracts and expenditures for the preservation of property in the district from damage by fire as they deem necessary and draw orders on the treasury for that purpose. However, the co…

§ 2605. Purchase of property A fire district, through its prudential committee, may purchase and hold, in addition to the apparatus for extinguishing fires, such real and personal estate as is necessary for the preservation of the fire apparatus. (Amended 1967, No. 17.)

§ 2606. Eminent domain When a fire district decides to erect a building for the preservation of its fire apparatus and the location of land for the building is determined, if the owner of the land refuses to convey the land to the district at a price that the district deems reaso…

§ 2607. Actions and claims The committee may commence and prosecute actions in the name of the district, defend and adjust actions commenced against it, and settle claims in favor of and against the district.

§ 2671. Duties generally The chief engineer, or, in his or her absence, the assistants in the order of their rank, under the supervision of the prudential committee, shall have charge of the apparatus for the prevention and extinguishment of fires, and shall keep the same in serv…

§ 2672. Enforcement of bylaws; alteration and repair of fireplaces, furnaces, and stoves The chief engineer may carry into effect any bylaw or rule of the district and may direct alterations in the position and repairs of fireplaces, furnaces, stoves, and other things from which …

§ 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…

§ 2674. Assistance outside district When a fire occurs in a fire district or town and application for assistance is made to an officer or inhabitant of another organized fire district by an officer or inhabitant of such district or town, if in his or her judgment assistance shoul…

§ 2675. Penalties for disobedience of order or bylaw A person who refuses to obey a lawful order or direction of an engineer or the official highest in rank present at a fire or other emergency or disobeys a bylaw of the district shall be fined not more than $250.00. (Amended 196…