Arkansas Code of 1987 (2024)
Title 20 - PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE (§§ 20-2-101 — 20-86-113)
Subtitle 2 - HEALTH AND SAFETY (§§ 20-6-101 — 20-38-113)
Chapter 22 - FIRE PREVENTION, PROTECTION, AND SAFETY (§§ 20-22-101 — 20-22-1016)
Subchapter 10 - ARKANSAS COMPREHENSIVE FIRE PROTECTION ACT OF 1993 (§§ 20-22-1001 — 20-22-1016)
Section 20-22-1010 - Duties of State Fire Marshal

• (a) The State Fire Marshal shall have the responsibility to:
  • (1) Provide sufficient training to the several deputy fire marshals in the State of Arkansas to enable them to better understand their duties and their authority and to motivate them to perform their duties in an effective and efficient manner;
  • (2) Coordinate fire prevention efforts with the Office of Fire Protection Services and other agencies and groups;
  • (3) Develop and present public awareness programs in fire prevention and protection;
  • (4) Develop and disseminate fire prevention information and material;
  • (5) Enforce the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code and periodically revise and update the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code;
  • (6) Do and perform such other functions as will promote an efficient and effective fire prevention and control program in the state;
  • (7) Review fire protection class code determinations by an advisory organization and determine if the evaluation of fire protection services is reasonable and appropriate; and
  • (8) Upon request, make recommendations to the Insurance Commissioner concerning filings made to the commissioner concerning fire protection standards.

• (b) The State Fire Marshal, in conjunction with the appropriate law enforcement agency, shall enforce all laws and ordinances with regard to the following, including without limitation:
  • (1) The prevention of fires;
  • (2) The storage, sale, and use of combustibles and explosives;
  • (3) The installation and maintenance of automatic or other fire alarm systems and fire extinguishing equipment;
  • (4) The construction, maintenance, and regulation of fire escapes;
  • (5) The means and adequacy of exits in case of fire from factories, asylums, hospitals, churches, schools, halls, theaters, and all other places in which numbers of people work, live, or congregate from time to time, for any purpose; and
  • (6) The suppression of arson and the investigation of the cause, origin, and circumstances of fires.

• (c) The State Fire Marshal shall adopt reasonable rules for the effective administration of this subchapter to accomplish its intent and purposes, and to safeguard the public from fire hazards.

• (d) The State Fire Marshal shall make reasonable rules for the keeping, storing, using, manufacture, selling, handling, transportation, or other disposition of highly inflammable materials and rubbish, gunpowder, dynamite, crude petroleum or any of its products, explosives or compounds, or any other explosive, including fireworks, and firecrackers, and he or she may prescribe the materials and construction of receptacles and buildings to be used for any of those purposes.

• (e) Nothing in this subchapter shall apply to the inspection of boilers, § 20-23-101 et seq., the administration and enforcement of which is now vested in the Division of Labor.

Added by Act 2023, No. 841,§ 44, eff. 7/1/2023.