Read the full stored bill text
- 83rd Session (2025)
Senate Bill No. 25–Committee on Government Affairs
CHAPTER..........
AN ACT relating to fire protection; revising the duties of the State
Forester Firewarden; revising the composition of the State
Fire Marshal Division within the Department of Public
Safety; expanding the list of facilities for which the State Fire
Marshal is required to enforce laws and adopt certain
regulations to include cannabis production facilities;
eliminating the requirement that the State Fire Marshal
cooperate with the State Forester Firewarden to miti gate the
risk of certain fires; revising provisions relating to the
investigation of certain fires by the State Fire Marshal to
include a fire that results in an injury or certain financial
losses; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Legislative Counsel’s Digest:
Existing law sets forth the powers and duties of the State Forester Firewarden,
which include a requirement to cooperate with the State Fire Marshal in the
enforcement of laws and the adoption of certain regulations relating to fire
prevention through the management of vegetation in th is State. (NRS 472.040)
Section 1 of this bill removes this requirement.
Existing law establishes within the Department of Public Safety the State Fire
Marshal Division, which consists of the Fire Protection and Control Section, Fire
Investigation Section, Public Education Section, Fire Service Training Section and
Fire Data Se ction. (NRS 477.010) Section 1.5 of this bill eliminates all of the
statutory sections comprising the State Fire Marshal Division.
Existing law requires, amongst other things, the State Fire Marshal to: (1)
enforce laws and adopt regulations related to th e safety, access, means and
adequacy of exits in case of fire at certain institutions, facilities and buildings; (2)
cooperate with the State Forester Firewarden in mitigating the risk of fire hazard
from vegetation in the State; and (3) with certain excep tions, investigate in certain
counties any fire which results in a death or which is of a suspicious nature.
(NRS 477.030) Section 2 of this bill: (1) expands the list of facilities for which the
State Fire Marshal enforces laws and adopts regulations to include cannabis
production facilities; (2) removes the requirement that the State Fire Marshal
cooperate with the State Forester Firewarden in mitigating the risk of fire hazard
from vegetation in the State; and (3) expands the requirement that the State Fire
Marshal investigate certain fires in certain counties to include the investigation of
any fire which results in an injury or a financial loss greater than $2,000,000.
EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN
SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. NRS 472.040 is hereby amended to read as follows:
472.040 1. The State Forester Firewarden shall:
– 2 –
- 83rd Session (2025)
(a) Supervise or coordinate all forestry, rangeland 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 town site 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 p rotection districts where they are
needed and offer guidance and advice in their operation.
(d) 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.
(e) 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.
(f) 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.
(g) [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 this State.
(h)] Ensure that any adopted regulations are consistent with
those of fire protection districts created pursuant to chapter 318 or
474 of NRS.
[(i)] (h) 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.
[(j)] (i) Work collaboratively with and provide technical
assistance to federal, state and local agencies and property owners
to:
(1) Identify and mitigate the risks of wildfire to life, property
and ecosystems;
(2) Restore and maintain landscape resiliency;
(3) Create and maintain fire -adapted communities and
ignition-resistant communities; and
(4) Improve and support safe and effective responses to
wildfire.
2. The State Forester Firewarden in carrying out the provisions
of this chapter may:
– 3 –
- 83rd Session (2025)
(a) Appoint paid foresters and firewardens to enforce the
provisions of the laws of this State respecting forest, rangeland and
watershed management or the protection of 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 Un ited 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 Di rector 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 for fire protection, fire
prevention and forest, rangeland and watershed management,
including, without limitation, cameras or other equipment necessary
for the early warning or detection of wildfires.
(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 –
- 83rd Session (2025)
Sec. 1.5. NRS 477.010 is hereby amended to read as follows:
477.010 [1.] The State Fire Marshal Division is hereby
established in the Department of Public Safety.
[2. The Division consists of the Fire Protection and Control
Section, the Fire Investigation Section, the Public Education
Section, the Fire Service Training Section and the Fire Data
Section.]
Sec. 2. NRS 477.030 is hereby amended to read as follows:
477.030 1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the
State Fire Marshal shall enforce all laws and adopt regulations
relating to:
(a) The prevention of fire.
(b) The storage and use of:
(1) Combustibles, flammables and fireworks; and
(2) Explosives in any commercial construction, but not in
mining or the control of avalanches,
under those circumstances that are not otherwise regulated by the
Division of Industrial Relations of the Department of Business and
Industry pursuant to NRS 618.890.
(c) The safety, access, means and adequacy of exit in case of fire
from mental and penal institutions, facilities for the care of children,
foster homes, residential facilities for groups, facilities for
intermediate care, nursing homes, hospitals, schools, cannabis
production facilities, all buildings, except private residences, which
are occupied for sleeping purposes, buildings used for public
assembly and all other buildings where large numbers of persons
work, live or congregate for any purpose. As used in this par agraph
[, “public] :
(1) “Cannabis production facility” has the meaning
ascribed to it in NRS 678A.125.
(2) “Public assembly” means a building or a portion of a
building used for the gathering together of 50 or more persons for
purposes of deliberation , education, instruction, worship,
entertainment, amusement or awaiting transportation, or the
gathering together of 100 or more persons in establishments for
drinking or dining.
(d) The suppression and punishment of arson and fraudulent
claims or practices in connection with fire losses.
(e) The maintenance and testing of:
(1) Fire dampers, smoke dampers and combination fire and
smoke dampers; and
(2) Smoke control systems.
– 5 –
- 83rd Session (2025)
Except as otherwise provided in subsection [12,] 11, the
regulations of the State Fire Marshal apply throughout the State, but
except with respect to state -owned or state -occupied buildings, the
State Fire Marshal’s authority to enforce them or conduct
investigations under this chapter does not extend to a school district
except as otherwise provided in NRS 393.110, or a county whose
population is 100,000 or more or which has been converted into a
consolidated municipality, except in those local jurisdictions in
those counties where the State Fire Marshal is requested to exercise
that authority by the chief officer of the organized fire department of
that jurisdiction or except as otherwise provided in a regulation
adopted pursuant to paragraph (b) of subsection 2.
2. The State Fire Marshal may:
(a) Set standards for equipment and appliances pertaining to fire
safety or to be used for fire protection within this State, including
the threads used on fire hose couplings and hydrant fittings; and
(b) Adopt regulations based on nationally recognized standards
setting forth the requ irements for fire departments to provide
training to firefighters using techniques or exercises that involve the
use of fire or any device that produces or may be used to produce
fire.
3. [The State Fire Marshal shall cooperate with the State
Forester Fi rewarden in the mitigation of the risk of a fire hazard
from vegetation in this State pursuant to paragraph (g) of subsection
1 of NRS 472.040.
4.] The State Fire Marshal shall cooperate with the Division of
Child and Family Services of the Department of Health and Human
Services in establishing reasonable minimum standards for
overseeing the safety of and directing the means and adequacy of
exit in case of fire from foster homes.
[5.] 4. The State Fire Marshal shall coordinate all activities
conducted pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §§ 2201 et seq. and receive and
distribute money allocated by the United States pursuant to that act.
[6.] 5. Except as otherwise provided in subsection [10,] 9, the
State Fire Marshal shall:
(a) Investigate any fire which occurs i n a county other than one
whose population is 100,000 or more or which has been converted
into a consolidated municipality, and from which [a] an injury or
death or financial loss greater than $2,000,000 results or which is
of a suspicious nature.
(b) Investigate any fire which occurs in a county whose
population is 100,000 or more or which has been converted into a
consolidated municipality, and from which [a] an injury or death or
– 6 –
- 83rd Session (2025)
financial loss greater than $2,000,000 results or which is of a
suspicious nature, if requested to do so by the chief officer of the
fire department in whose jurisdiction the fire occurs.
(c) Cooperate with the Commissioner of Insurance, the Attorney
General and the Fraud Control Unit for Insurance established
pursuant to NRS 228.412 in any investigation of a fraudulent claim
under an insurance policy for any fire of a suspicious nature.
(d) Cooperate with any local fire department in the investigation
of any report received pursuant to NRS 629.045.
(e) Provide specialized tr aining in investigating the causes of
fires if requested to do so by the chief officer of an organized fire
department.
[7.] 6. The State Fire Marshal shall put the National Fire
Incident Reporting System into effect throughout the State and
publish at least annually a summary of data collected under the
System.
[8.] 7. The State Fire Marshal shall provide assistance and
materials to local authorities, upon request, for the establishment of
programs for public education and other fire prevention activities.
[9.] 8. The State Fire Marshal shall:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection [12] 11 and NRS
393.110, assist in checking plans and specifications for construction;
(b) Provide specialized training to local fire departments; and
(c) Assist local governments in drafting regulations and
ordinances,
on request or as the State Fire Marshal deems necessary.
[10.] 9. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, in a
county other than one whose population is 100,000 or more or
which has been converted into a consolidated municipality, the State
Fire Marshal shall, upon request by a local government, delegate to
the local government by interlocal agreement all or a portion of the
State Fire Marshal’s authority or duties if the local governm ent’s
personnel and programs are, as determined by the State Fire
Marshal, equally qualified to perform those functions. If a local
government fails to maintain the qualified personnel and programs
in accordance with such an agreement, the State Fire Marsh al shall
revoke the agreement. The provisions of this subsection do not
apply to the authority of the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations
pursuant to paragraph (b) of subsection 2.
[11.] 10. The State Fire Marshal may, as a public safety officer
or as a technical expert on issues relating to hazardous materials,
participate in any local, state or federal team or task force that is
– 7 –
- 83rd Session (2025)
established to conduct enforcement and interdiction activities
involving:
(a) Commercial trucking;
(b) Environmental crimes;
(c) Explosives and pyrotechnics;
(d) Drugs or other controlled substances; or
(e) Any similar activity specified by the State Fire Marshal.
[12.] 11. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, any
regulations of the State Fire Marshal conc erning matters relating to
building codes, including, without limitation, matters relating to the
construction, maintenance or safety of buildings, structures and
property in this State:
(a) Do not apply in a county whose population is 700,000 or
more whi ch has adopted a code at least as stringent as the
International Fire Code , the International Building Code and
the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code , published by the
International Code Council. To maintain the exemption from the
applicability of the regulations of the State Fire Marshal pursuant to
this subsection, the code of the county must be at least as stringent
as the most recently published edition of the International Fire Code,
the International Building Code and the International Wild land-
Urban Interface Code within 2 years after publication of such an
edition.
(b) Apply in a county described in paragraph (a) with respect to
state-owned or state -occupied buildings or public schools in the
county and in those local jurisdictions in the county in which the
State Fire Marshal is requested to exercise that authority by the chief
executive officer of that jurisdiction. As used in this paragraph,
“public school” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 385.007.
Sec. 3. This act becomes effective upon passage and approval.
20 ~~~~~ 25