Commentary on Sections Powers in the event of emergency Section 44: Powers of fire-fighters etc in an emergency
78.This provision provides individual authorised employees of a fire and rescue authority with the powers to deal with fires (which have either broken out or situations where a fire fighter reasonably believes a fire is about to break out), road traffic accidents and other emergencies. It replaces section 30(1) of the Fire Services Act 1947 which was limited to dealing with extinguishing, or preventing the spread of, fires and recognises the wider range of duties of fire-fighters including the work which fire and rescue authorities do in responding to road traffic accidents.