Opinion No. (1997)

DANIEL E. LUNGREN Attorney General ANTHONY M. SUMMERS Deputy Attorney General THE HONORABLE MIKE THOMPSON, MEMBER OF THE CALIFORNIA SENATE, has requested an opinion on the following question: Where a county fire protection district is governed by three elected commissioners but has no fire chief or employees and provides fire protection services through a volunteer fire department which is a separate nonprofit corporation, and the commissioners have requested the State Fire Marshal to enforce building standards relating to fire and panic safety within the jurisdiction of the district, is the State Fire Marshal required to enforce the standards? CONCLUSION Where a county fire protection district is governed by three elected commissioners but has no fire chief or employees and provides fire protection services through a volunteer fire department which is a separate nonprofit corporation, and the commissioners have requested the State Fire Marshal to enforce building standards relating to fire and panic safety within the jurisdiction of the district, the State Fire Marshal is required to enforce the standards. ANALYSIS The Mendocino Fire Protection District ("District") was…