[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR553.210]

[Page 293-294]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 553_APPLICATION OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT TO EMPLOYEES OF 
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS--Table of Contents
 
   Subpart C_Fire Protection and Law Enforcement Employees of Public 
                                Agencies
 
Sec. 553.210  Fire protection activities.

    (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 `TT`Tany employee in fire protection activitiesT'TT' 
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

[[Page 294]]

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]