Sec 41-2146. State fire safety committee; members; terms; powers and duties; compensation; fire watch requirements

A. The state fire safety committee is established consisting of nine members who are appointed for three-year terms by the governor pursuant to section 38-211. The governor may remove any member from the committee for incompetency, improper conduct, disability or neglect of duty. Membership on the committee is as follows:

1. Two members, not from the same municipality, each of whom is a fire chief or fire marshal of a paid municipal fire department of a city with a population of one hundred thousand persons or more.

2. One member who is a fire chief of a paid municipal fire department of a town with a population of less than one hundred thousand persons.

3. One member who is a fire chief in a fire district of an unincorporated area in a county with a population of less than five hundred thousand persons.

4. One member who is a member of the Arizona fire chiefs association.

5. One member who is a registered architect.

6. One member who is a chief building official of a city, town or county.

7. One member who is a member of the public.

8. One member who is a member of the public and who is engaged in the business of distributing, selling or providing liquefied petroleum gas to consumers.

B. The state fire safety committee shall annually select from its membership a chairperson for the committee. The committee shall meet on the call of the chairperson or on the request of at least five members.

C. The state fire safety committee shall adopt by rule a state fire code establishing minimum standards for:

1. Safeguarding life and property from fire and fire hazards.

2. Prevention of fires and alleviation of fire hazards.

3. Storage, sale, distribution and use of dangerous chemicals, combustibles, flammable liquids, explosives and radioactive materials.

4. Installation, maintenance and use of fire escapes, fire protection equipment, fire alarm systems, smoke detectors and fire extinguishing equipment.

5. The means and adequacy of fire protection and exit in case of fire in places in which numbers of persons work, live or congregate, excluding family dwellings that have fewer than five residential dwelling units.

6. Other matters relating to fire prevention and control that are considered necessary by the committee.

D. The state fire safety committee shall adopt rules and a schedule of fees for a permit, for a plan submission, for plan review and for reinspections that are payable by persons regulated under article 3 of this chapter.

E. The state fire safety committee shall adopt rules for the allocation of monies from the arson detection reward fund established by section 41-2167. The rules shall be consistent with the purposes set forth in section 41-2167 and shall promote the effective and efficient use of the fund monies.

F. Members of the committee are not eligible to receive compensation for service on the committee but are eligible for reimbursement of expenses pursuant to title 38, chapter 4, article 2.

G. If the state fire safety committee requires the use of a fire watch, an employee who works at the building in which a fire watch is required may serve as the fire watch. A person who is designated as a fire watch shall be equipped with means to contact the local fire department, and the person's only duty shall be to perform constant patrols of the protected premises while keeping watch for fires. The local jurisdiction shall provide the fire watch with printed instructions from the state fire marshal and may provide a free training session before the person's deployment as the fire watch begins. For the purposes of this subsection, "fire watch" means a person who is stationed in a building or in a place relative to a building to observe the building and its openings when the fire protection system for the building is temporarily nonoperational or absent.