37-1307. 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 advise the office of the state fire marshal on all of the following:

1. The adoption of a state fire code.

2. The adoption of a fee schedule for permits, plan submissions, plan reviews and reinspections.

3. The allocation of monies from the arson detection reward fund established by section 37-1387.

D. 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.

E. 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 office of 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.