The functions of the office shall be to foster, promote and develop ways and means of protecting life and property against fire and panic.

The State Fire Marshal shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate and shall hold office at the pleasure of the Governor. In order to be eligible for appointment, he or she shall have had not less than eight years experience in a regularly organized fire department in this State. He or she shall be paid the annual salary provided for by Chapter 6 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

The State Fire Marshal may appoint those assistant or deputy state fire marshals as he or she may consider necessary from among active chiefs of fire departments, fire marshals of cities, counties, and districts providing fire protection, and the salaried field assistants of the State Fire Marshal.

The State Fire Marshal and the assistant or deputy state fire marshals shall exercise the functions of peace officers.

The State Fire Marshal shall aid in the enforcement of all laws and ordinances, any rules and regulations adopted under the provisions of Division 11 (commencing with Section 12000) of, and Part 1 (commencing with Section 13000) and Part 2 (commencing with Section 13100) of Division 12 of, the Health and Safety Code, and building standards adopted by the State Fire Marshal and published in the State Building Standards Code relating to fires or to fire prevention and protection.

The State Fire Marshal shall, if possible, attend, and take charge of and protect all property which may be imperiled by any fire other than:

Except on property which has been deeded to the state for taxes, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection may abate fire hazards existing on property owned, controlled, or held in trust by the state, in areas not under the jurisdiction of the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection, upon the request of the legislative body of the city, county, or city and county within which the property is situated. The cost of the abatement shall be paid out of any money in the State Treasury appropriated for that purpose.

The State Fire Marshal may determine the existence of a fire hazard on any property which has been deeded to the State for taxes and may serve a written notice of condemnation of the fire hazard on the State Controller, or on any person designated by the Controller. The fire hazard is then subject to removal in accordance with the law relating to removal of public nuisances on tax deeded property.

The State Fire Marshal shall encourage the adoption of fire prevention measures by means of education, engineering, and enforcement and shall prepare or cause to be prepared for dissemination information relating to the subject of fire prevention and extinguishment.

The State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services, shall develop fire prevention, response, and recovery measures for utility grade lithium-ion battery storage facilities.

The State Fire Marshal shall establish or cause to be established a program of fire prevention training for fire prevention inspectors employed by local fire protection agencies. The training program shall be conducted on a regional basis located near such agencies which employ or contract with such inspectors.

On or before July 1, 2023, the State Fire Marshal, with the involvement of the Statewide Training and Education Advisory Committee, shall develop a curriculum for livestock producers eligible for the livestock pass program described in Section 2350 of the Food and Agricultural Code. The curriculum shall, at a minimum, provide education regarding basic fire behavior, communications during a disaster emergency, and incident command structure. The curriculum shall provide for the initial certification as well as the continuing education or recertification of livestock producers eligible for the livestock pass program. It is the intent of the Legislature that any certification training utilizing the curriculum developed pursuant to this section be no more than

four hours in duration, ensuring that commercial livestock producers may avail themselves of the curriculum.

During the existence of a fire, the State Fire Marshal may protect any property which is affected thereby until the arrival of the owner or claimant. If the owner or claimant does not take charge of the property within twenty-four hours, the State Fire Marshal may store it at the owner’s or claimant’s expense.

The State Fire Marshal may investigate every break, and shall investigate every explosion or fire, involving a pipeline reported by a local agency pursuant to Chapter 5.5 (commencing with Section 51010) of Division 1 of Title 5 of the Government Code. The State Fire Marshal may immediately order any pipeline closed when it is determined to be necessary to do so in the interests of public safety. The pipeline shall remain closed until it is determined that operations may be resumed with safety or until any discovered safety defect has been remedied or repaired.

and maintenance of equipment and furnishings that present unusual fire hazards in any state institution or other state-owned building or in any specified state-occupied building. The State Fire Marshal shall adopt those regulations as are reasonably necessary to define what buildings shall be considered as state-occupied buildings.

published in the California Building Standards Code in all state-owned buildings, specified state-occupied buildings, and state institutions throughout the state. Upon written request from the chief fire official of any city, county, city and county, or fire protection district, or a Designated Campus Fire Marshal, pursuant to Section 13146, the State Fire Marshal may authorize that person and their authorized representatives, in their geographical area of responsibility, to make fire prevention inspections of state-owned or specified state-occupied buildings, other than state institutions, for the purpose of enforcing the regulations relating to fire and panic safety adopted by the State Fire Marshal pursuant to this section and building standards relating to fire and panic safety published in the California Building Standards Code. Authorization from the State Fire Marshal shall be limited to those fire departments or fire districts that maintain a fire prevention bureau staffed by paid personnel.

wards.

The State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Bureau of Household Goods and Services, shall review the flammability standards for building insulation materials, including whether the flammability standards for some insulation materials can only be met with the addition of chemical flame retardants. Based on this review, and if the State Fire Marshal deems it appropriate, he or she shall, by July 1, 2015, propose for consideration by the California Building Standards Commission, to be adopted at the sole discretion of the commission, updated insulation flammability standards that accomplish both of the following:

travel between walls and into confined areas, including crawl spaces and attics, for occupants of the building and any firefighters who may be in the building during a fire.

adopted pursuant to this section shall also apply to buildings located in very high fire hazard severity zones designated pursuant to Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 51175) of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 5 of the Government Code, and other areas designated by a local agency following a finding supported by substantial evidence in the record that the requirements of the building standards adopted pursuant to this section are necessary for effective fire protection within the area.

this section to high fire hazard severity zones during the next triennially occurring code adoption cycle.

exclude from the requirements of these building standards any area in its jurisdiction following a finding supported by substantial evidence in the record at a public hearing that the requirements of these building standards are necessary or not necessary, respectively, for effective fire protection within the area. Changes made by a local agency to an urban wildland interface community area following a finding supported by substantial evidence in the record shall be final and shall not be rebuttable.