November 30, 1990 

Mr. Ray L. Goad 

Executive Director 

Commission on Fire 

Protection Personnel 

Standards and Education 

9800 N. Lamar Blvd. 

Austin, Texas 78753 

Opinion No. .JM-1251 

Re: Whether volunteer fire department personnel are subject 

to requirements established 

under Government Code chapter 

416 by the Commission on Fire 

Protection Personnel Standards 

and Education, and related 

questions (RQ-2076) 

Dear Mr. Goad: 

You ask: 

Are volunteer fire departments, which 

receive compensation for their services 

through a contract to provide fire protection 

services for a governmental body, that also 

has a paid fire department, required to train 

their personnel to meet minimum training 

standards promulgated by [the Commission on 

Fire Protection Personnel Standards and Education]? 

Chapter 416 of the Government Code provides generally 

for the authority of the Commission on Fire Protection Personnel Standards and Education [the %ommission*@]. Section 

416.031 provides that a "fire department" may not employ a 

person, except on a temporary or probationary basis, unless 

he has completed a commission-approved training' course and 

met other requirements established by the commission. 

Section 416.007(8) of the Government Code empowers the commission to 

establish minimum educational, training, PMsical, mental, and moral standards for admfssion to employment as fire orotection oersonm in a permanent, temporary, or probationary 

status and for advanced or specialized fire 

. 

P. 6666 
Mr. Ray L. Goad - Page 2 (JM-1251) 

pv positions. (Emphasis 

. 

See also ie, 55 416.022 (commission may establish training 

requirements for "fire protection personnel or recruits"), 

416.031(b)(commission may establish training and other 

standards for "fire protection personnel"). 

Section 416.001(4), in subparts (A), (B), and (C), defines "fire protection personnel,M for purposes of chapter 

416, to include, respectively, nfire and arson investigators," "aircraft crash and rescue fire protection personnel," and certain employees of local fire departments. We 

assume that the personnel you are concerned about are not 

fire and arson investigators or aircraft crash and rescue 

personnel. Subpart (C) provides that fire department 

employees are included within the definition of the term 

"fire protection personnel" if they are 

permanent, fully paid, full-time fire deDe 

rent emolovees who are not secretaries, 

stenographers, clerks, budget analysts, or 

similar support staff persons or other administrative employees and who are assigned 

duties in one or more of the following 

categories: 

(i) fire suppression: 

(ii) fire inspection: 

(iii) fire and arson investigation; 

(i-4 marine fire fighting; 

w aircraft crash fire fighting and 

rescue: 

(vi) fire training: 

(vii) fire education; 

(viii) fire administration: and 

(ix) any other position necessarily or 

customarily related to fire prevention and 

suppression. (Emphasis added.) 

"Fire department" is defined in subsection (3) as 

P. 6667 
Mr. Ray L. Goad - Page 3 (JM-1251) 

a deDartment of a lo al aovernment with permanent, fully paid, f&-time employees organized to prevent or suppress fires. (Emphasis 

added.) 

We find no statutory authorization for the establishment of volunteer fire departments as "departments of local 

government" within the meaning of the section 416.001(3) 

definition of fire departments. Assuming the volunteer fire 

departments you are concerned about are not lldepartments of 

local government," they would not be "fire departments" for 

purposes of the provisions of chapter 416. Thus, their 

personnel would not, by reason of their volunteer fire 

department employment, fall within the ambit of section 

416.031, requiring appointees of "fire departments" to meet 

training and other requirements established by the commission. Nor would. they fall within the definition of "fire 

protection personnel" in section 416.001(4)(C) since they 

are not "fire department employees11 within the meaning of 

that provision. They would thus not be subject to commission training standards for "fire protection personnel, 

promulgated under sections 416.007(8), 416.022, and 

416.031(b). m Attorney General Opinion JW-1209 

(1990), at 6 n.3 (no provision for establishment of 

volunteer fire departments as political subdivisions). But 

see Attorney General Opinion JW-821 (1987) (volunteer fire 

department may be llgovernmental body" for purposes of Open 

Records Act, V.T.C.S. art. 6252-17a). 

We find no provision in chapter 416 or elsewhere in 

state law which subjects employees of volunteer fire departments -- where the latter are not "departments of local 

government" -- to the training requirements for "fire 

protection personnel11 established by the commission under 

chapter 416. 

You also ask: 

Do personnel who receive pay from a fire 

department (paid or volunteer), which may or 

may not be assigned fire fighting duties and 

who are employed to drive fire trucks to fire 

scenes, have to meet minimum standards of fire 

protection personnel? 

It follows from our response to your first question 

that personnel of a volunteer fire department, where the 

latter is not a "department of local government,w would not 

be subject under section 416.031 to the training or other 

p. 6668 
Mr. Ray L. Goad - Page 4 (JM-1251) 

requirements established by the commission for "appointees" 

of "fire departments," since, again, volunteer fire department personnel are not appointed by "fire departmentsB1 as 

the term is defined in section 416.001(3). Nor would they 

be subject to the training and other standards for "fire 

protection personnel" established by the commission under 

sections 416.007(8), 416.022, and 416.031(b), since, not 

being "fire department employees," they are not "fire 

protection personnelB1 within the definition of that term in 

section 416.001(4)(C). 

If the fire department employing the persons you ask 

about is a "fire departmentB1 within the definition of the 

term in section 416.001(3) -- h, a department of local 

government, etc. -- those persons would, unless employed on 

a temporary or probationary basis, be subject to the provisions of.section 416.031(a) requiring that "fire department" 

appointees meet commission requirements. Also, where such 

persons are full-time, fully paid, and "may . . . be assigned fire-fighting duties I1 in the course of their employment, we think they would fall under the definition of "fire 

protection personnel" in section 416.001(4)(C) so as to make 

them subject to the requirements for "fire protection 

personnel" established by the commission under sections 

416.007(8), 416.022, and 416.031(b). &R Attorney General 

Opinion H-141 (1973) (employees of fire departments who 

lSmayll be assigned fire-fighting duties are subject to the 

training requirements of the commission). 

We acknowledge that to the extent that cities or other 

units of local government may contract for fire protection 

services rather than provide them directly, see. e.a,, Local 

Gov't Code 5 352.001(c) (county commissioners courts may 

contract with "incorporatedB1 volunteer fire departments for 

fire protection in county territory outside municipalities), 

the results we reach here, based on the applicable provisions of law, would permit local governments to obtain the 

services of firefighters from non-governmental entities 

without those firefighters being subject to the commissionrequirements which would generally apply to them if they 

were employed directly by the local governments* fire 

departments. Whether, as a policy matter, this situation 

needs to be addressed is, of course, for the legislature and 

not this office to decide. 

Personnel of a volunteer fire department, 

where the latter is not a department of local 

p. 6669 
, 

, 

(. 

Mr. Ray L. Goad - Page 5 (JM-2151) 

government, are not subject to the r;rdf;;- 

ments of training established by the 

sion on Fire Protection Personnel Standards 

and Education under chapter 416 of the Government Code. A permanent, full-time, fully 

paid employee of a fire department which is a 

department of local government is subject to 

commission requirements under chapter 416 if 

the employee may be assigned firefighting 

duties in the course of his employment. 

JIM MATTOX 

Attorney General of Texas 

MARY KELLER 

First Assistant Attorney General 

LOU MCCREARY 

Executive Assistant Attorney General 

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RENEA HICXS 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RICK GILPIN 

Chairman, Opinion Committee 

Prepared by William Walker 

Assistant Attorney General 

p. 6670