Attachment 4 - ARRA_California_Fire_Laws.pdf

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE REFERENCES

CALIFORNIA FOREST AND FIRE LAWS

4423.4 SMOKING:

Issuance of a proclamation pursuant to Section 4423.1 shall not preclude smoking on the following private or public lands unless smoking is specifically prohibited by proclamation or county ordinance.

(a) Within motor vehicles while operating or parked on established roads, rest stops, or parking areas cleared of flammable vegetation.

(b) Within established campgrounds open to the public.

(c) Within an area that is at least three feet or approximately one meter in diameter which has been cleared to mineral soil by removal of all flammable vegetation and duff.

4427. USE OF MACHINERY IN AREA WHERE BURNING PERMIT REQUIRED;

REQUIRED CLEARING AND FIRE TOOLS

During any time of the year when burning permits are required in an area pursuant to this article, no person shall use or operate any motor, engine, boiler, stationary equipment, welding equipment, cutting torches, tarpots, or grinding devices from which a spark, fire, or flame may originate, which is located on or near any forest-covered land, brush-covered land, or grass-covered land, without doing both of the following:

(a) First clearing away all flammable material, including snags, from the area around such operation for a distance of 10 feet.

(b) Maintain one serviceable round point shovel with an overall length of not less than forty-six

(46) inches and one backpack pump water-type fire extinguisher fully equipped and ready for use at the immediate area during the operation.

This section does not apply to portable powersaws and other portable tools powered by a gasoline-fueled internal combustion engine. (See Sec. 4431 re powersaws).

4428. SPECIFIC FIRE FIGHTING TOOLS REQUIRED ON INDUSTRIAL OPERATIONS;

EXCEPTIONS

No person, except any member of an emergency crew or except the drive or owner of any service vehicle owned or operated by or for, or operated under contract with, a public or privately owned utility, which is used in the construction, operation, removal or repair of the property or facilities of such utility when engaged in emergency operations, shall use or operate any vehicle, machine, tool or equipment powered by an internal combustion engine operated on hydrocarbon fuels, in any industrial operation located on or near any forest, brush, or grass-covered land between April l and December 1 of any year, or at any other time when ground litter and vegetation will sustain combustion permitting the spread of fire, without providing and maintaining, for firefighting purposes only, suitable and serviceable tools in the amounts, manner and location prescribed in this section.

(a) On any such operation a sealed box of tools shall be located, within the operating area, at a point accessible in the event of fire. This fire toolbox shall contain: one backpack pump-type fire extinguisher filled with water, two axes, two McLeod fire tools, and a sufficient number of shovels so that each employee at the operation can be equipped to fight fire.

(b) One or more serviceable chainsaws of three and one-half or more horsepower with a cutting bar 20 inches in length or longer shall be immediately available within the operating area, or, in the alternative, a full set of timber-felling tools shall be located in the fire tool box, including one crosscut falling saw six feet in length, one double-bit ax with a 36-inch handle, one sledge hammer or maul with a head weight of six, or more, pounds and handle length of 32 inches, or more, and not less than two falling wedges.

(c)shovel and one ax, and any other vehicle used on the operation shall be equipped with one shove. Each tractor used in such operation shall be equipped with one shovel.

(d) As used in this section: (l) "Vehicle" means a device by which any person or property may be propelled, moved, or drawn over any land surface, excepting a device moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.

(2) "Passenger vehicle" means a vehicle which is self-propelled and which is designed for carrying not more than 10 persons including the driver, and which is used or maintained for the transportation of persons, but does not include any motortruck or truck trailer.

4429. FIRE FIGHTING TOOLS REQUIRED AT EMPLOYEE CAMPS, ETC.

During any time of the year when burning permits are required in an area pursuant to this article, at any camp maintained in such area for the residences of employees, or at any local headquarters in such area of any industrial, agricultural, or other operations on or near any forest-covered land or brush-covered land, there shall be provided and maintained at all times, in a specific location, for firefighting purposes only, a sufficient supply of serviceable tools to equip 50 percent of the able-bodied, personnel, resident of such camp, or working out of such headquarters, for fighting fires. Among these tools shall be included shovels, axes, saws, backpack pumps, and scraping tools. With such tools there shall also be one serviceable headlight adaptable for attachment to at least one-half of the tractor-bulldozers used on the operation, and a sufficient number of canteens and flashlights to equip a third of the able-bodied personnel.

4431. GASOLINE POWERED SAWS, ETC.; FIREFIGHTING EQUIPMENT

During any time of the year when burning permits are required in an area pursuant to this article, no person shall use or operate or cause to be operated in the area any portable saw, auger, drill, tamper, or other portable tool powered by a gasoline-fueled internal combustion engine on or near any forest-covered land, brush-covered land, or grass-covered land, within 25 feet of any flammable material, without providing and maintaining at the immediate locations of use or operation of the saw or tool, for firefighting purposes one serviceable round point shovel, with an overall length of not less than 46 inches, or one serviceable fire extinguisher. The Director of Forestry shall be administrative regulation specify the type and size of fire extinguisher necessary to provide at least minimum assurance of controlling fire caused by use of portable power tools under various climatic and fuel conditions.

The required fire tools shall at no time be farther from the point of operation of the powersaw or tool than

25 feet with unrestricted access for the operator from the point of operation.

NOTE: Specific Regulations under this Section can be found in Title 14, Sections 1230-1235, California

Administrative Code.

4435. ORIGIN OF FIRE, NEGLIGENCE; MISDEAMEANOR

If any fire originates from the operation or use of any engine, machine, barbecue, incinerator, railroad rolling stock, chimney, or any other device which may kindle a fire, the occurence of the fire is prima facie evidence of negligence in the maintenance, operation, or use of such engine, machine, barbecue, incinerator, railroad rolling stock, chimney, or other device. If such fire escapes from the place where it originated and it can be determined which persons' negligence caused such fire, such person is guilty of a misdemeanor.

4442. SPARK ARRESTERS OR FIRE PREVENTION MEASURES; REQUIREMENT; EXEMPTIONS

Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall use, operate, or allow to be used or operated, any internal combustion engine which uses hydrocarbon fuels on any forest-covered land, brush-covered land, or grass-covered land unless the engine is equipped with a spark arrester as defined in subdivision (c), maintained in effective working order or the engine is constructed, equipped, and maintained for the prevention of fire pursuant to Section 4443.

(b) Spark arresters affixed to the exhaust system of engines or vehicles, subject to this section, shall not be placed or mounted in such a manner as to allow flames or heat from the exhaust system to ignite any flammable material.

(c) A spark arrester is a device constructed of nonflammable materials specifically for the purpose of removing and retaining carbon and other flammable particles over 0.0232 of an inch in size from the exhaust flow of an internal combustion engine that uses hydrocarbon fuels or which is qualified and rated by the United States Forest Service.

4443. PORTABLE POWER SAWS, ETC.; REGULATION FOR USE

No person shall use, operate, or cause to be operated on any forest-covered land, brush-covered land, or grass-covered land any handheld portable, multiposition, internal-combustion engine manufactured after

June 30, 1978, which is operated on hydrocarbon fuels, unless it is constructed and equipped and maintained for the prevention of fire.

The board shall, by regulation, specify standards for construction, equipment, and maintenance of such engines for the prevention of fire and shall specify a uniform method of testing to be used by engine and equipment manufacturers, governmental agencies, and equipment users. The regulation shall include specifications of exhaust system standards for carbon particle retention or destruction, exposed surface temperature, gas temperature, flammable debris accumulation, durability and serviceability.

Portable power saw and other portable equipment described in this section which were manufactured prior to July l, l978, shall be subject to fire safety design specifications as prescribed by the board.

NOTE: Specific Regulations under this Section can be found in Title 14, Sections 1240-1241.2, California Administrative Code.