| Passed by the Senate April 22, 2003 YEAS 46 ________________________________________ President of the Senate Passed by the House April 17, 2003 YEAS 98 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives | I, Milton H. Doumit, Jr., Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SENATE BILL 5176 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Secretary | |
| Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 58th Legislature | 2003 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/17/2003. Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.
AN ACT Relating to providing wildland fire fighting training; and reenacting and amending RCW 43.43.934.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 43.43.934 and 1999 c 117 s 1 and 1999 c 24 s 3 are
each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
Except for matters relating to the statutory duties of the chief of
the Washington state patrol that are to be carried out through the
director of fire protection, the board shall have the responsibility of
developing a comprehensive state policy regarding fire protection
services. In carrying out its duties, the board shall:
(1)(a) Adopt a state fire training and education master plan that
allows to the maximum feasible extent for negotiated agreements: (i)
With the state board for community and technical colleges to provide
academic, vocational, and field training programs for the fire service
and (ii) with the higher education coordinating board and the state
colleges and universities to provide instructional programs requiring
advanced training, especially in command and management skills;
(b) Adopt minimum standards for each level of responsibility among
personnel with fire suppression, prevention, inspection, and
investigation responsibilities that assure continuing assessment of
skills and are flexible enough to meet emerging technologies. With
particular respect to training for fire investigations, the master plan
shall encourage cross training in appropriate law enforcement skills.
To meet special local needs, fire agencies may adopt more stringent
requirements than those adopted by the state;
(c) Cooperate with the common schools, technical and community
colleges, institutions of higher education, and any department or
division of the state, or of any county or municipal corporation in
establishing and maintaining instruction in fire service training and
education in accordance with any act of congress and legislation
enacted by the legislature in pursuance thereof and in establishing,
building, and operating training and education facilities.
Industrial fire departments and private fire investigators may
participate in training and education programs under this chapter for
a reasonable fee established by rule;
(d) Develop and adopt a master plan for constructing, equipping,
maintaining, and operating necessary fire service training and
education facilities subject to the provisions of chapter 43.19 RCW;
(e) Develop and adopt a master plan for the purchase, lease, or
other acquisition of real estate necessary for fire service training
and education facilities in a manner provided by law; and
(f) Develop and adopt a plan with a goal of providing ((training at
the level of)) fire fighter one and wildland training, as defined by
the board, to all fire fighters in the state. Wildland training
reimbursement will be provided if a fire protection district or a city
fire department has and is fulfilling their interior attack policy or
if they do not have an interior attack policy. The plan will include
a reimbursement for fire protection districts and city fire departments
of not less than ((two)) three dollars for every hour of fire fighter
one or wildland training. The Washington state patrol shall not
provide reimbursement for more than ((one)) two hundred ((fifty)) hours
of fire fighter one or wildland training for each fire fighter trained.
(2) In addition to its responsibilities for fire service training,
the board shall:
(a) Adopt a state fire protection master plan;
(b) Monitor fire protection in the state and develop objectives and
priorities to improve fire protection for the state's citizens
including: (i) The comprehensiveness of state and local inspections
required by law for fire and life safety; (ii) the level of skills and
training of inspectors, as well as needs for additional training; and
(iii) the efforts of local, regional, and state inspection agencies to
improve coordination and reduce duplication among inspection efforts;
(c) Establish and promote state arson control programs and ensure
development of local arson control programs;
(d) Provide representation for local fire protection services to
the governor in state-level fire protection planning matters such as,
but not limited to, hazardous materials control;
(e) Recommend to the adjutant general rules on minimum information
requirements of automatic location identification for the purposes of
enhanced 911 emergency service;
(f) Seek and solicit grants, gifts, bequests, devises, and matching
funds for use in furthering the objectives and duties of the board, and
establish procedures for administering them;
(g) Promote mutual aid and disaster planning for fire services in
this state;
(h) Assure the dissemination of information concerning the amount
of fire damage including that damage caused by arson, and its causes
and prevention; and
(i) Implement any legislation enacted by the legislature to meet
the requirements of any acts of congress that apply to this section.
(3) In carrying out its statutory duties, the board shall give
particular consideration to the appropriate roles to be played by the
state and by local jurisdictions with fire protection responsibilities.
Any determinations on the division of responsibility shall be made in
consultation with local fire officials and their representatives.
To the extent possible, the board shall encourage development of
regional units along compatible geographic, population, economic, and
fire risk dimensions. Such regional units may serve to: (a) Reinforce
coordination among state and local activities in fire service training,
reporting, inspections, and investigations; (b) identify areas of
special need, particularly in smaller jurisdictions with inadequate
resources; (c) assist the state in its oversight responsibilities; (d)
identify funding needs and options at both the state and local levels;
and (e) provide models for building local capacity in fire protection
programs.