[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR553.210]

[Page 246-247]
 
                             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,

[[Page 247]]

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]