Fire Brigades Act, 1940

Control of operations at a fire.

6.—(1) Where one or more fire brigades are present at a fire which has broken out in the sanitary district of a sanitary authority, sole charge and control of all operations for extinguishing such fire shall be vested in the officer specified in whichever of the following paragraphs is applicable, that is to say:—

(a) if the sanitary authority has established a fire brigade and that fire brigade is present at such fire—the officer thereof who is for the time being in charge of that fire brigade at such fire;

(b) if the sanitary authority has not established a fire brigade but has made under this Act an agreement with a fire brigade authority for the use of their fire brigade and that fire brigade is present at the fire—the officer of that brigade who is for the time being in charge thereof at such fire;

(c) if neither of the foregoing paragraphs of this sub-section is applicable—the officer of the fire brigade of a fire brigade authority which first arrives at the fire who is for the time being in charge of that fire brigade at such fire.

(2) Whenever and so long as no fire brigade of a fire brigade authority is present at a fire, the senior member of the Gárda Síochána present at the fire shall have sole charge and control of all operations for extinguishing such fire.

(3) In this Act, the expression “the person in control”, when used in relation to any fire, means the person in whom is vested, by virtue of this section, the sole charge and control of all operations for extinguishing such fire.