SENATE, No. 2043

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED MAY 8, 1997

By Senator CASEY

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 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;

    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, full-time fire officers promoted to battalion chief or deputy chief 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 not 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 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

    This bill requires paid or part-paid, full-time members of a fire department or municipal fire district to satisfactorily complete within six months of a promotion to supervisory positions other than chief a training program formulated or approved by the Division of Fire Safety in the Department of Community Affairs. The curriculum is to be based on National Fire Protection Association Standard 1021 and consist of 160 hours of instruction offered in central locations throughout the State over a period of at least four weeks. Any modules of the course that are initially failed must be retaken until passed.

    Within six months of a promotion to battalion chief or deputy chief, a full-time fire officer must also be certified as having completed a nationally recognized hazardous materials on-scene incident command course.

    The bill does not require volunteer firefighters promoted to the relevant supervisory positions to complete these training courses, but the training must be made available to volunteers who wish to participate. Only firefighters who have been promoted after the enactment of this bill are subject to its provisions.

    The State is responsible for covering the expenses associated with this training, including the cost of food and lodging at training facilities and travel expenses that would not have otherwise been incurred in the normal course of employment. The bill appropriates $500,000 from the General Fund to the Division of Fire Safety for this purpose.

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