(a) As used in sections 7(k) and 13(b)(20) of the Act, the term
``any employee . . . in fire protection activities'' refers to any
employee (1) who is employed by an organized fire department or fire
protection district; (2) who has been trained to the extent required by
State statute or local ordinance; (3) who has the legal authority and
responsibility to engage in the prevention, control or extinguishment of
a fire of any type; and (4) who performs activities which are required
for, and directly concerned with, the prevention, control or
extinguishment of fires, including such incidental non-firefighting
functions as housekeeping, equipment maintenance, lecturing, attending
community fire drills and inspecting homes and schools for fire hazards.
The term would include all such employees, regardless of their status as
``trainee,'' ``probationary,'' or ``permanent,'' or of their particular
specialty or job title (e.g., firefighter, engineer, hose or ladder
operator, fire specialist, fire inspector, lieutenant, captain,
inspector, fire marshal, battalion chief, deputy chief, or chief), and
regardless of their assignment to support activities of the type
described in paragraph (c) of this section, whether or not such
assignment is for training or familiarization purposes, or for reasons
of illness, injury or infirmity. The term would also include rescue and
ambulance service personnel if such personnel form an integral part of
the public agency's fire protection activities. See Sec. 553.215.
(b) The term ``any employee in fire protection activities'' also
refers to employees who work for forest conservation agencies or other
public agencies charged with forest fire fighting responsibilities, and
who direct or engage in (1) fire spotting or lookout activities, or (2)
fighting fires on the fireline or from aircraft or (3) operating tank
trucks, bulldozers and tractors for the purpose of clearing fire breaks.
The term includes all persons so engaged, regardless of their status as
full time or part time agency employees or as temporary or casual
workers employed for a particular fire or for periods of high fire
danger, including those who have had no prior training. It does not
include such agency employees as maintenance and office personnel who do
not fight fires on a regular basis. It may include such employees during
emergency situations when they are called upon to
spend substantially all (i.e., 80 percent or more) of their time during
the applicable work period in one or more of the activities described in
paragraphs (b)(1), (2) and (3) of this section. Additionally, for those
persons who actually engage in those fire protection activities, the
simultaneous performance of such related functions as housekeeping,
equipment maintenance, tower repairs and/or the construction of fire
roads, would also be within the section 7(k) or 13(b)(20) exemption.
(c) Not included in the term ``employee in fire protection
activities'' are the so-called ``civilian'' employees of a fire
department, fire district, or forestry service who engage in such
support activities as those performed by dispatchers, alarm operators,
apparatus and equipment repair and maintenance workers, camp cooks,
clerks, stenographers, etc.
[52 FR 2032, Jan. 16, 1987; 52 FR 2648, Jan. 23, 1987]
