NRS472.040. Powers and duties; administrative supervision.

      1.  The State Forester Firewarden shall:

      (a) Supervise or coordinate all forestry and watershed work on state-owned and privately owned lands, including fire control, in Nevada, working with federal agencies, private associations, counties, towns, cities or private persons.

      (b) Administer all fire control laws and all forestry laws in Nevada outside of townsite boundaries, and perform any other duties designated by the Director of the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources or by state law.

      (c) Assist and encourage county or local fire protection districts to create legally constituted fire protection districts where they are needed and offer guidance and advice in their operation.

      (d) Designate the boundaries of each area of the State where the construction of buildings on forested lands creates such a fire hazard as to require the regulation of roofing materials.

      (e) Adopt and enforce regulations relating to standards for fire retardant roofing materials to be used in the construction, alteration, change or repair of buildings located within the boundaries of fire hazardous forested areas.

      (f) Purchase communication equipment which can use the microwave channels of the state communications system and store this equipment in regional locations for use in emergencies.

      (g) Administer money appropriated and grants awarded for fire prevention, fire control and the education of firefighters and award grants of money for those purposes to fire departments and educational institutions in this State.

      (h) Determine the amount of wages that must be paid to offenders who participate in conservation camps and who perform work relating to fire fighting and other work projects of conservation camps.

      (i) Cooperate with the State Fire Marshal in the enforcement of all laws and the adoption of regulations relating to the prevention of fire through the management of vegetation in counties located within or partially within the Lake Tahoe Basin and the Lake Mead Basin.

      (j) Assess the codes, rules and regulations which are adopted by other agencies that have specific regulatory authority within the Lake Tahoe Basin and the Lake Mead Basin, and which are not subject to the authority of a state or local fire agency, for consistency with fire codes, rules and regulations.

      (k) Ensure that any adopted regulations are consistent with those of fire protection districts created pursuant to chapter 318, 473 or 474 of NRS.

      (l) Upon the request of the State Engineer, review a plan submitted with an application for the issuance of a temporary permit pursuant to NRS 533.436.

      2.  The State Forester Firewarden in carrying out the provisions of this chapter may:

      (a) Appoint paid foresters and firewardens to enforce the provisions of the laws of this State respecting forest and watershed management or the protection of forests and other lands from fire, subject to the approval of the board of county commissioners of each county concerned.

      (b) Appoint suitable citizen-wardens. Citizen-wardens serve voluntarily except that they may receive compensation when an emergency is declared by the State Forester Firewarden.

      (c) Appoint, upon the recommendation of the appropriate federal officials, resident officers of the United States Forest Service and the United States Bureau of Land Management as voluntary firewardens. Voluntary firewardens are not entitled to compensation for their services.

      (d) Appoint certain paid foresters or firewardens to be arson investigators.

      (e) Employ, with the consent of the Director of the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, clerical assistance, county and district coordinators, patrol officers, firefighters, and other employees as needed, and expend such sums as may be necessarily incurred for this purpose.

      (f) Purchase, or acquire by donation, supplies, material, equipment and improvements necessary to fire protection and forest and watershed management.

      (g) With the approval of the Director of the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the State Board of Examiners, purchase or accept the donation of real property to be used for lookout sites and for other administrative, experimental or demonstration purposes. No real property may be purchased or accepted unless an examination of the title shows the property to be free from encumbrances, with title vested in the grantor. The title to the real property must be examined and approved by the Attorney General.

      (h) Expend any money appropriated by the State to the Division of Forestry of the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for paying expenses incurred in fighting fires or in emergencies which threaten human life.

      3.  The State Forester Firewarden, in carrying out the powers and duties granted in this section, is subject to administrative supervision by the Director of the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

      [4:149:1945; A 1949, 543; 1955, 587]—(NRS A 1957, 70, 651; 1959, 141; 1971, 2080; 1973, 300; 1977, 1144; 1981, 481, 1586; 1985, 296; 1993, 2534; 2003, 916; 2005, 335; 2009, 2746; 2011, 1570)