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Ord 1714 2/28/1955ya � ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING AFIRE PREVENTION CODE PRESCRIBING REGULATIONS GOVERNING CONDITIONS HAZARDOUS TO LIFE AND PROPERTY FROM FIRE OR EXPLOSIONS AND ESTABLISHING A.BUREAU OF FIRE PREVENTION AND PROVIDING.OFFICERS THEREFOR AND DEFINING THEIR.POWERS AND DUTIES. ,BE IT ORDAINED by.,the Board of Aldermen of;.the City.of Wichita 'SECTION: l ;AI�PTION: OF F1R� PREUENTi Iq CODE ., . There "is hereby adopted by the Board of Aldermen of . tine City of Wichita Falls, for "the City of Wichita Falls', for the purpose of prescribing regulations governing conditions hazardous to life and property from fire or explosion, that certain code known as "Fire Prevention Code" recommended by the National Board of Fire Underwriters, being particularly the 1953 edition-thereof. and the whole thereof, save and except such portions as are hereinafter deleted,"modified or amended by Section 6 of this ordinance, of which code not less than three (3) copies have been and now are filed in the office of the City Clerk of the City of Wichita Falls, Texas, and the same are hereby adopted and incorporated as fully as if set out at length herein, qnd from the date on which this ordinance shall take effect, the provisions thereof shall be controlling within the corporate limits of the City of Wichita Fal lsi. Texas. SECTION 2. ESTABLISIEVIENT AND DUTIES OF BUREAU OF FIRE PREVENTION. (a) The Fire Prevention Code shall be enforced by the Bureau of Fire Prevention in the Inspection Division of the De- partment of Public Safety of the City of Wichita Falls, Texas, which is hereby established and which shall be operated under the supervision of the Fire Marshal of the City of Wichita Falls; (b) The Fire Marshal in "charge of the Bureau of Fire Pre- vention shall be appointed by-the City Manager of the City of Wichita Falls., on the basis of examination to determine his quali- fications. His appointment shall continue during good behavior and satisfactory services, with his contract of employment on a fifteen (15) day basis, and he shall not be.'removed from office except by the City Manager of the"City of Wichita Falls; if removed by the City Manager, he may be removed either for or without cause, and he shall not be deemed to :have any property right in this office; (c) The Fire Marshal may require the Chief ofthe Fire Department to detail such members of the Fire Department as In- spectors as shall from time to time.be necessary; such Inspectors, of course, to be under the control and supervision of the Fire Marshal when so detailed. The Fire Marshal shall recommend to the City Manager of the City of Wichita Falls, the employment of technical inspectors, who, when such- authorization is made, shall be selected through an examination to determine their fit- ness for the position. The examination shall be open to members and non - members of the Fire Department and appointments made after examination shall be for an indefinite term with removal only by the City Manager, but in no event shall any member under the Civil Service Provisions of Article 1269m of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, as adopted by the City of Wichita Falls, retain such Civil Service status if he accepts employment as an inspector hereunder. (d) Examination to determine the qualifications of any applicant for a positionftunder this code shall be given by the Personnel Director of the City of Wichita Falls, Texas, or under his direction.- SECTION 3. DEFINITIONS (a) Wherever 'the word t1Municipality" is used in the Fare Prevention Code, it shall& be held to mean THE CITY OF WICHITA. FALLS, WICHITA COUNTY, TEXAS. (b) Wherever the words "Chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention" are used in the Fire Prevention Code, they shall be held to mean the FIRE MARSHAL. SECTION 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF LIMITS OF DISTRICTS IN WHICH STORAGE OF FLAM4ABLE LIQUIDS. IN OUTSIDE'ABOVE- GROUND TANKS IS TO.BE PROHIBITED. (a) The limits referred to in'Section 15,201 of the Fire Prevention Code in which storage of flammable liquids.in outside above- ground tanks is prohibited, are hereby established as follows: NONE. (b) The limits referred to in Section 15,401 of tl�e Fire Prevention Code, in which new bulk plants for flammable liquids are prohibited, are hereby established as follows; NONE. SECTION 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF LIMITS IN WHICH BULK STORAGE OF LIQUEFIED P ETROLF" GASSES IS TO BE RESTRICTED. Thelimits referred to in'Section 20.06a of the Fire Prevention Code, ini which bulk storage of liquefied petroleum gas is restricted, are hereby established as follows: NONE. SECTION 6. AMEfiMMENTS MADE IN THE FIRE PREVENTION - CODE . The Fire Prevention Code is amended and changed in the following. respects: NONE. SECTION 7. MODIFICATIONS. The Chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention shall have power to modify any of the provisions of the Fire Prevention Code upon application in writing by the owner or lessee, or his duly authorized agent, when there arl-e practical difficulties -in the way of carrying out the strict letter of the code, provided that the spirit of the code -shall be observed, public safety secured, and substantial justice done. The particulars of such modification when granted or allowed and the decision of the Chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention thereon shall be entered upon the records of the department.and a signed copy shall be furnished the applicant. .. 2 .. SECTION 8. APPEALS Whenever the Fire Marshal shall disapprove an application or fefuse to grant a license or permit applied for, or when it is claimed that the provisions of the code do not apply or that the true intent and meaning of the code have been mis- construed or wrongly interpreted, the applicant may appeal from the decision of the Fire Marshal to the Board of Aldermen within thirty (30) days from the date of the decision of the appeal. SECTION 9. NEW MATERIALS, PROCESSES OR OCCUPAN- CIES WHICH MAY REQUIRE PERMITS. The `City Manager, the Chief of the Fire Department and the Chief of.the Bureau of Fire Prevention .shall act as a committee to determine and specify, after giving affected persons an op- portunity to be heard, any new materials, processes or occupan- cies, which shall require permits, in addition to those now enumerated in said code. The Chief of the Bureau of Fire Pre- vention shall post such list in a conspicuous place in his office, and distribute copies thereof to interested persons. SECTION 10. PENALTIES. (a) Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of the code hereby adopted or fail to comply therewith, or who shall violate or fail to comply with any order made thereunder, or who shall build in violation of any detailed - statement of specifi- cations or plans submittedF.arld approved thereunder, or any -cer- tificate or permit issued thereunder, and from which no appeal has been taken, or who shall fail to comply with such an order'. as affirmed or modified by,the City Manager or by a Court of competent ,jurisdiction, within the time fixed herein, shall severally for each and every such violation and non - compliance respectively, be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than Five (55.00) Dollars, nor more than Two Hundred (S200.00) Dollars. The imposition of one penalty for.any viola- tion shall riot excuse the violation or permit it to continue; and all such persons shall be required to correct or remedy, such vio- lations or defects within a reasonable tame; and when not other- wise specified, each ten days that prohibited conditions are maintained shall constitute a separate offense. (b) The application of the above penalty shall not be held to prevent the enforced removal of prohibited conditions. SECTION 11. REPEAL OF CONFLICTING ORDINANCES. All former ordinances or parts thereof conflicting or inconsistent with the provisions of this ordinance or of the code hereby adopted are hereby fepealed. SECTION 12. VALIDITY. The Board of Aldermen hereby declares that should any section, paragraph, sentence, or word ofthis ordinance or of the code hereby adopted be declared for any reason to be in- valid, it is the intent of the Board of Aldermen that it would have passed all other portions of this ordinance independent of the elimination herefrom of any, such portion as may be de- clared invalid. I Fire Prevention Code Edition of Nineteen Fifty -Three Not scanned but is filed with the original ordinances in the City Clerk's vault.