There is hereby established a department herein designated as the fire department. (1959 Code § 3-3-1)

The fire department shall consist of a chief of the fire department, to be appointed by the mayor with the approval of the city council, and such other personnel as the mayor and council may, from time to time, determine necessary. The chief and such assistants shall hold office for the duration of his or their appointment or until such time as he or they may be removed. (1959 Code §§ 1-15-1, 3-3-2; amd. 2003 Code)

The duties of the chief of the fire department shall be as follows:

A.   Firefighting: To direct the fighting of fires.

B.   Equipment; Apparatus: To have charge of, be responsible for, and keep in good repair all equipment and apparatus connected with or belonging to the fire department.

C.   Fire Drills; Meetings: To call and direct such fire drills and meetings as he deems necessary for the training of persons in efficient firefighting.

D.   Authority Over Personnel: To have authority over the personnel of the fire department during their activities while firefighting and during drills and meetings.

E.   Police Authority: To have police authority while on duty as fire chief.

F.   Records; Reports: To keep records of all fires and make reports of same at each regular monthly meeting of the city council.

G.   Other Duties: Such other duties as the city council may, from time to time, impose upon him by law. (1959 Code § 3-3-2; amd. 2003 Code)

It shall be the duty of volunteer members of the fire department to respond to all fire calls, unless prevented from so doing by unavoidable circumstances. They shall attend fire department drills and meetings and obey such rules and regulations as are established for the fire department. (1959 Code § 3-3-3)

All public traffic, during a fire run and the use and equipment of fire apparatus, shall be governed by this code and by state law. (1959 Code § 3-3-4)

It shall be unlawful for any person to wilfully or carelessly injure, damage or destroy any fire apparatus or any other property belonging to the city. (1959 Code § 7-4-1; amd. 2003 Code)

It shall be unlawful for any person to drive any conveyance wilfully or carelessly across any hose or fire apparatus belonging to the city or any railroad company to interfere in any manner with hose laid across its tracks in time of a fire. (1959 Code § 7-4-1; amd. 2003 Code)

It shall be unlawful for any person to give a false fire alarm in the city. (1959 Code § 7-4-1; amd. 2003 Code)

A.   Fire Seasons Designated: The chief of the fire department shall annually designate one or more fire seasons. He shall make this determination from time to time based upon weather conditions, soil conditions, area congestion and his experience in dealing with fires and fire hazards. His designation shall state the beginning date and ending date; but this shall not prevent him from extending the season by declaring a new fire season.

B.   Council Approval: Upon his determination to establish a fire season, the fire chief will notify the council, and that fire season shall be effective if the council approves it and proper public notice is given.

C.   Notice: Public notice shall be given by one public notice in the Bonners Ferry Herald, and the fire season shall commence the day following the first delivery or sale of that issue of that newspaper.

D.   Permit Required: It is unlawful to set a fire by any means or method from May 10 through October 20 without first obtaining a permit from the fire chief ten (10) days before wanting to set such fire and paying the permit fee as determined from time to time by resolution of the city council. The above dates may be extended by the fire chief. The following exceptions shall not require a permit:

   1.   Stove, furnace and fireplace fires; and

   2.   Barbecue fires contained in containers manufactured for that purpose; and

   3.   Cooling pit fires not over three feet (3') in diameter, lined with stone or nonwood block, and with debris removed within a ten foot (10') radius of the center of the fire. (1959 Code § 7-6-1; amd. 2003 Code)

This chapter applies to all explosives except small arms ammunition and pyrotechnic devices. (1959 Code § 7-2-1)

The term "explosive" means any chemical compound or mechanical mixture that is commonly used or intended for the purpose of producing an explosion and which contains any oxidizing and combustive units or other ingredients in proportions, quantities or packing that an ignition by fire, by friction, by concussion, by percussion or by detonator of any part of the compound or mixture may cause a sudden generation of highly heated gases with which the resultant gaseous pressures are capable of producing destructive effects on contiguous objects or of destroying life or limb. (1959 Code § 7-2-1; amd. 2003 Code)

Explosives shall not be in the possession of any person, nor shall any person bring into the city or receive inside the city, or cause to be brought in or received, or use or cause to be used, any explosive except as herein provided otherwise. (1959 Code § 7-2-4)

A.   Required: Section 7-3-3 of this chapter shall not apply to any person who has received a permit to possess, receive, bring, cause to be received or caused to be brought, used or caused to be used into the city explosives.

B.   Application: A permit is obtained by applying to the chief of police, who shall submit it to the council. The council, upon majority vote, shall issue the permit after receiving a report and recommendation from each the chief of police and chief of the fire department.

C.   Permit Specifications: The permit shall specify the kind and amount of explosive allowable, the time it can be kept within the city, the use to which it may be put, and specify that it shall not go into effect until the applicant provides liability insurance in an amount required by the council, and includes the city and the council members in its coverage. (1959 Code § 7-2-2; amd. 2003 Code)

A.   Use Of Vehicles For Hire Prohibited: Explosives shall not be transported or carried on or in any conveyance carrying passengers for hire. (1959 Code § 7-2-3)

B.   Required Markings: Required markings shall meet or exceed requirements of Idaho Code sections 49-592 and 49-1427. (2003 Code)

C.   Smoking; Intoxication; Careless Or Reckless Driving: It shall be unlawful for any person in charge of a vehicle containing explosives to smoke in, upon or near such vehicle, to drive, load or unload the vehicle while intoxicated, to drive the vehicle in a careless or reckless manner or to load or unload such vehicle in a careless or reckless manner.

D.   Metal Tools In Vehicle Containing Explosives: It shall be unlawful for any person to place or carry, or cause to be placed or carried, any metal tool or other similar piece of metal, in the bed or body of a vehicle containing explosives.

E.   Exploders, Detonators, Blasting Caps, Etc.: It shall be unlawful for any person to place or carry or cause to be placed or carried, in the bed or body of a vehicle containing explosives, any exploders, detonators, blasting caps, or other similar explosives, material, or to carry in or upon any such vehicle any matches. (1959 Code § 7-2-3)

The possession, sale, delivery, storage and use of fireworks within the city shall be in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and the fireworks act of 1997 as set forth in chapter 26, title 39, Idaho Code. All standards, regulations, definitions and times established by the fireworks act of 1997 as set forth in chapter 26, title 39, Idaho Code, as now in effect or hereafter modified are hereby adopted and made a part of this chapter. (Ord. 462, 6-19-2001)

A.   Permit Required: There shall be no public display or sale of fireworks within the city without first having obtained a permit from the city clerk to do so.

B.   Requirements For Issuance: No permit will issue for the sale or public display of fireworks unless the applicant shall pay a fee, provide insurance, and complete an application, which shall be in accordance with the form and amounts established by resolution of the council. Should the council fail to establish by resolution a fee or insurance requirement, the maximum fee and insurance requirement authorized by chapter 26, title 39, Idaho Code, shall be applicable. (Ord. 462, 6-19-2001)

Except as provided by Idaho Code section 39-2603 for the wholesale and importation of fireworks and Idaho Code section 39-2605 for the public display of fireworks supervised by a qualified person, no person shall possess, discharge, or deliver to another any fireworks within the city except "nonaerial common fireworks" as defined by Idaho Code section 39-2602(6). (Ord. 462, 6-19-2001)

No fireworks shall be sold, possessed, discharged, stored or displayed within the city except as provided by the ordinances and resolutions of the city and the provisions of Idaho law. Any sale, possession, discharge, storage and/or display of fireworks not in compliance with the ordinances and resolutions of the city and the laws of the state shall be a misdemeanor. (Ord. 462, 6-19-2001)

A.   Power: To ensure the health and safety of persons and property within the city and to respond to changing conditions and standards, the city council may by resolution establish fee schedules, insurance requirements, safety requirement, including the establishment of extended times for sale or display of fireworks and training or experience qualifications to obtain a permit to sell or display fireworks, which are uniformly applicable to each class of activity regulated by this chapter and the laws of the state of Idaho as applicable within the city.

B.   Time Limitation For Adoption; Posting, Publication: Any regulations adopted by resolution of the council as provided herein must be adopted not less than thirty (30) days prior to the effective date, and shall be posted in a public place in the city hall, and provided to newspapers, radio and cable television having general circulation or service within the city to use as a news item or public service announcements and copies of all applicable ordinances and resolutions shall be available to the public upon request.

C.   Declaration Of Emergency: However, this will not limit the mayor's or council's authority to declare an emergency and limit, restrict or ban the use or possession of fireworks in times and circumstances of high risk of injury to persons or property by reason of fire or other hazardous circumstances. (Ord. 462, 6-19-2001)

Any act or omission regulated by the laws of the state of Idaho will be punishable as provided for the punishment of misdemeanors under the law of the state of Idaho. Any act or omission, which is unlawful only by reason of the ordinances of the city, will be punishable as a violation of this chapter. (Ord. 462, 6-19-2001)