ASSEMBLY, No. 706

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblyman ZISA and Assemblywoman WEINBERG

An Act concerning the promotion of certain firefighters, supplementing chapter 14 of Title 40A of the New Jersey Statutes, and making an appropriation.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. Upon a promotion resulting in a permanent appointment to a first level through fourth level title, except for chief, any full-time paid member of a paid or part-paid fire department or force or of a fire district maintained and controlled by a board of fire commissioners and supported by the municipal taxpayers shall be required, within six months of appointment at the new level, to satisfactorily complete a training program formulated or approved by the Division of Fire Safety in the Department of Community Affairs. Regulations promulgated pursuant to this act specifying the curriculum of the training program shall be primarily based on Standard 1021 ("Fire Officer Professional Qualifications") established by the National Fire Protection Association and any other national standard which may be adopted by reference. A municipality or fire district shall provide the fire officer with the opportunity to participate in the program.

    The training program shall:

    a. Consist of a minimum of 160 hours of instruction over a minimum of four weeks;

    b. Utilize a curriculum which shall provide one-time initial training for persons promoted to lieutenant, captain, battalion chief, and deputy chief titles;

    c. Take place at central locations in the State including county fire academies or State facilities; and

    d. Require that the fire officer either pass or fail the program. If the officer fails one or more modules of the program, he shall retake the failed module and pass at the appropriate level of performance.

    2. In addition to the supervisory training program required for fire officers pursuant to section 1 of this act, fire officers promoted to battalion chief or deputy chief titles, employed full-time, shall possess within six months of appointment a valid certificate of satisfactory completion of a nationally-recognized hazardous materials on-scene incident command course including any prerequisites therefor.

    3. The training programs required under section 1 and 2 of this act shall be available to, but shall not be required for, newly-promoted volunteer fire officers.

    4. Expenses incurred in furnishing the programs in fire supervision to an officer referred to in sections 1 and 3 of this act that are directly attributable to training, including the furnishing of meals and lodging at or near a training facility, shall be reimbursed by the State for the first $500,000 incurred per year, statewide. Reasonable travel expense incurred by the officer shall also be paid by the State but only if the travel expense would not otherwise be incurred by the officer in the regular course of his employment.

    5. There is appropriated $500,000 from the General Fund to the Division of Fire Safety in the Department of Community Affairs to effectuate the purposes of this act.

    6. This act shall take effect on the first day of the thirteenth month after enactment and apply only to promotions thereafter.

STATEMENT

    Currently, in the State of New Jersey, there is no requirement for fire officer training. It is a serious problem that must be addressed, not only for the safety of the local firefighting force but also for the safety of the general public.

    This bill is patterned on New York State legislation which created that state's training program for first line supervisors. However, while New York's program consists of more than 260 hours of training for first line supervisors, this proposed program would require four weeks of instruction consisting of a minimium of 160 hours and apply to all fire officers newly promoted to the positions of lieutenant, captain, battalion chief, and deputy chief. Further, the program would be largely based on National Fire Protection Association Standard 1021, which sets forth Fire Officer Professional Qualifications, or another suitable national standard.

    The course would be offered on a pass-fail basis and would have to be completed within six months of receiving the promotion. This time limit could be extended for good cause shown to the Division of Fire Safety in the Department of Community Affairs, which is charged with formulating or approving the program. This legislation does not make successful completion of this training a condition of receiving a promotion to a fire supervisor position. This training is only an additional professional requirement.

    Volunteer fire officers may take the course but are not mandated to do so. The State would be expected to assume expenses for the training, up to $500,000 each year.

    Further, newly promoted battalion chiefs and deputy chiefs would be expected, within six months following their appointments, to receive a hazardous materials on-scene incident command certificate of completion from a recognized authority.

Requires supervisory training for full-time firefighters promoted to certain positions.