Part 4Charges for attending fires
and other services
40Charges for attending fires or
hazardous material incidents
(1)
Except as provided by this section, no charge is
to be made for the attendance at a fire of any members of a fire
brigade.
(2)
If a fire occurs in any building, vehicle, vessel
or property outside a fire district to which this Act applies, the
Commissioner is entitled to recover, for services rendered by any members of a
fire brigade in endeavouring to extinguish the fire or save life or property,
charges not exceeding the prescribed charges.
(3)
Those charges may be recovered from:
(a)
the owner of the building, vehicle or property,
or
(b)
the master or owner of the vessel and the cargo
and freight for the vessel.
(4)
The amount of those charges is not to exceed 20
per cent of the value before the fire of the building, vessel, cargo and
freight or property.
(4A)
If a hazardous material incident occurs anywhere
in the State, the Commissioner is entitled to recover charges, not exceeding
the prescribed charges, for services rendered by any members of a fire brigade
in endeavouring:
(a)
to confine or end the incident, or to render the
site of the incident safe, or
(b)
to save any lives or property in
danger.
(4B)
Those charges may be recovered from:
(a)
the owner of, or the person having charge of, the
hazardous material involved, or
(b)
the owner or occupier of the premises on which,
or the owner or person in charge of the vehicle or vessel on or in which, or
arising out of the use of which, the incident
occurred.
(4C)
This section does not allow recovery of charges
for a fire within a fire district even though the fire arose from a hazardous
material incident.
(5)
This section binds the Crown in right of the
State and also, in so far as the legislative power of Parliament permits, the
Crown in all its other capacities.
s 40: Am 1993 No 110,
Sch 1 (25).
41Apportionment of
charges
(1)
The charges payable under section 40 in respect
of a fire are to be ratably apportioned between the owner of the building,
vessel or vehicle and the owner of the property, cargo or freight, according
to their respective values before the fire.
(2)
If any dispute arises between the parties liable
to pay such a charge as to the proportion payable by each or any of them, the
Commissioner may determine and certify the amount payable by each
person.
(3)
The Commissioner’s certificate is
conclusive evidence in any proceedings of the amount payable by each of the
parties.
(4)
The charges payable under section 40 otherwise
than in respect of a fire are to be ratably apportioned in accordance with the
regulations, if the regulations so provide.
s 41: Am 1993 No 110,
Sch 1 (26).
42Charges for other
services
(1)
If the Commissioner or a member of a fire
brigade, on request made by or on behalf of any person (whether or not made in
compliance with any law) otherwise than under an automatic fire alarm network
service arrangement referred to in section 79A:
(a)
inspects any premises, or
(b)
inspects, tests, services or repairs any
equipment, or
(c)
furnishes any advice or report concerning fire
prevention or protection, fire fighting equipment or other matters,
or
(d)
conducts any training course,
or
(e)
responds to any alarm (if it is afterwards
discovered that the alarm was false), or
(f)
performs any other service specified in the
regulations,
the Commissioner is entitled to payment by the person of
the charge prescribed by the regulations in respect of the service
performed.
(1A)
The Commissioner is entitled to payment of any
charges that a person has agreed to pay under an automatic fire alarm network
service arrangement referred to in section 79A, including charges of a kind
referred to in subsection (1) (a)–(e).
(1B)
Nothing in subsection (1A) affects the
Commissioner’s entitlement to payment of any charges payable otherwise
than as referred to in that subsection.
(2)
If a charge is not prescribed in respect of the
conduct of a training course, the Commissioner is entitled to payment of the
charge that the Commissioner determines is the reasonable charge payable for
the conducting of a training course.
(3)
This section binds the Crown in right of the
State and also, in so far as the legislative power of Parliament permits, the
Crown in all its other capacities.
s 42: Am 1997 No 27,
Sch 1 [1] [2].
43Waiver or reduction of
charges
The Commissioner may, at his or her discretion,
waive any charge payable under this Part or reduce any such charge by such
proportion as the Commissioner thinks fit having regard to:
(a)
a person’s contribution (whether by payment
of local government rates or insurance premiums or otherwise) to the cost of
fire brigade operations, and
(b)
such other matters as the Commissioner considers
relevant.