Circumstantial Powers of “Special Fire Police” in Pennsylvania: Statutory Consequences and Recommendations

Abstract

Volunteer police have been an instrumental part of Western policing since the inception of the concept of police. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania utilizes volunteer police under the title of “Special Fire Police.” Described as “firemen cloaked with police powers” in corresponding case law, these volunteers are statutorily provided with full powers to regulate traffic and keep crowds under control at any fire or emergency and to exercise other police powers which are necessary to prevent interference with the work of firemen. Although these volunteers have been in use for more than 50 years, the other police powers they are granted by law have remained largely undefined. This research will examine the current statutory and case law relevant to special fire police as well as those relevant to general Pennsylvania police powers to demonstrate the circumstantially defined police powers that could be adopted based on interpretation.

Fire police: A statutory comparison of the operational nexus between law enforcement and the fire service in six states

“…Not all situations in which special fire police are on duty will be the same and the law’s vague term may be facilitating the availability to use different powers. Providing a strict definition of police powers would provide limitations on response needs (Attwood et al, 2020). However, a handful of cases have discussed the potential police powers that special fire police can exercise.…”

“…§ 7435, 2011). As discussed by Attwood et al (2020), this term may have been purposefully given an ambiguous construction due to the evolving circumstances at an emergency. Not all situations in which special fire police are on duty will be the same and the law's vague term may be facilitating the availability to use different powers.…”

“…Fire police fall within the definition of a volunteer police officer as they are volunteer positions that exercise some variation of law enforcement powers. But unlike traditional volunteer police examined in past research, fire police are members of a fire department rather than a police agency (Attwood et al, 2020). Their status as volunteer positions is established by statutory law in several states.…”