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HomeMy WebLinkAbout006 - 10/23/1942 - AIR RAID ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY ORDINANCE) ORDINANCE NO. 6 1942 BEING AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE TO BE KNOWN AS THE "AIR RAID ORDINANCE", THE CONSTRUCTION THEREOF, DEFINING TERMS USED THEREIN, PROVIDING FOR AUTHORIZED WARNING SIGNALS, PROVIDING FOR RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE CONDUCT OF PERSONS DURING AIR RAID PERIODS AND EMERGENCY, PROVIDING FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF PERSONS TO ENFORCE THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ORDINANCE, PRO- HIBITING THE DISPLAY OF LIGHTS DURING A "BLACK-OUT" , PROHIBIT- ING CERTAIN SPECIFIED LIGHTING DURING EMERGENCY, IdAKING UN- AUTHORIZED LIGHTS A NUISANCE AND PROVIDING FOR THEIR ABATEMENT, REGULATING VEHICLES DURING "AIR RAID PERIODS", FORBIDDING UN- AUTHORIZED INTERFERENCE WITH PUBLIC DURING "AIR RAID PERIODS" , PROVIDING PENALTY FOR VIOLATION, AND PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY OF VARIOUS PARTS OF THIS ORDINANCE BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS Section 1 Title and Construction This Ordinance shall be known as the "Air Raid Ordinance", and its provisions shall be liberally construed in order to accomplish its purpose and to put into effect in the City of Fort Collins a system and method of precaution from enemy air attack, described in the 1941 publications of the United States Office of Civilian Defense entitled "Black-Outs" and "Air Raid Warn- ing System" and any publication of said office supplementing those publications Section 2. Definitions (a) The term "Air Raid Period" , when used in this Ordinance shall mean that in- terval of time between the sounding of a public "Air Raid Warning" signal and the sounding of a public "All Clear" signal (b ) The term "Black-Out" , when used in this Ordinance, shall mean that interval of night time occurring within an air raid period (c ) The term "Air Raid Warning", when used in this Or- dinance, shall mean a public signal or signals, by siren, bells or steam whistle, indicating the danger of immediate air J attack (d) The term "All Clear", when used in this Ordinance, shall mean the public signal or signals indicating that imme- diate danger of an air attack has passed (e ) The word "person", when used in this Ordinance , shall include every individual, person, copartnership, corporation, company or association (f) The term "Emergency", when used in this Ordinance , shall mean that period of time between any proclamation by the Mayor or Chief of Police (a) that an emergency exists and (b) that such emergency has ceased to exist (g) The terms "Chief of Police" and "Mayor", when used in this Ordinance, shall mean the Chief of Police and Mayor of the City of Fort Collins (h) The term "Air Raid Warden", when used in this Ordi- nance, shall mean any person officially appointed and designated as such by the Chief of Police and Coordinator for the City, and while wearing the official Air Raid Warden insignia or uniform designated by the Chief of Police Section 3 Exemption from Liability This ordinance is an exercise by the City of its government func- tions for the protection of the public peace , health, and safety and neither the City of Fort Collins nor any individual subject to regulations lawfully included herein or promulgated pursuant to authority herein conferred shall be liable for any damage sustained to person or property during, or as the result of, an authorized black-out or air raid protection measure Section 4 Providing for Rules and Regulations for the Conduct of Persons during Air Raid Periods and Emergency -2- The Chief of Police, subject to the approval of the City Coun- cil, is hereby authorized, directed and empowered to prepare and promulgate such rules and regulations and revisions, and amendments thereof, as may, in his discretion, be necessary for the conduct of persons during "Air Raid Periods", and in order to carry out the expressed intent of this Ordinance, provided, however, that no such rule or regulation shall be contrary to the provisions of this Ordinance Copies of said rules and regulations shall be filed at the office of the Chief of Police and office of the City Clerk The Chief of Police may create, form and conduct any auxiliary police force or other organization and in con- nection therewith may use such employees of the City as he may deem necessary, and he may appoint such persons as may, in his discretion, be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Ordinance, and the rules and regulations adopted pur- suant to this Ordinance All persons appointed by the Chief of Police , pur- suant to this Ordinance , shall serve without compensation, shall be purely volunteer, and shall not be considered employees of the City, and may be dismissed from this service at any time i Said persons so appointed shall possess all the powers and per- form all the duties of regular police officers of the City and shall ear an emblem or insignia to be provided by the Chief of Police J Neither the City of Fort Collins nor any officer, agent, or employee of said City shall oe liable to any person who has heretofore or who may hereafter volunteer for service with said City or with any agency for civilian defense in the City or elsewhere for any damage sustained by such person in -3- the course of or arising out of any such volunteer service Section 5 Display of Lights during "Black-Out" Prohibited During a "Black-Out" it shall be unlawful, except as otherwise specified under the rules and regulations adopted, as provided in Section 4 of this Ordinance, for any persons (a) to cause, display, operate, maintain or permit any lights whatever, except within an opaque enclosed structure, (b) to cause, maintain or permit any reflection or leak- age of light from any structure , (c ) to fail to prevent the display, operation, mainten- ance , reflection or leakage of light from premises occupied, supervised or controlled by such person Section 6 Prohibited Lighting During Emergency For the duration of the emergency it shall be unlawful to dis- play the following types of illumination- (a) any decorative street lighting, (b) illuminated house numbers, except those under the immediate manual control of some responsible person over the age of eighteen years (c) any type of exterior flood lighting that projects lights upward (d) all billboard lighting or exterior building lighting, including outline lighting, unless such light or lighting is at all times under the immediate manual control of some responsible person over the age of eighteen years. (e ) all exterior illuminated signs, all interior illum- inated signs visible from the exterior, all show window or other interior lights visible from the exterior, whether in a private home, commercial establishment or any other structure, which are not at all times under the immediate manual control -4- of some responsible person over the age of eighteen years, (f) No persons shall leave a light on or burning in or upon any structure during the daytime, which during the night time will not be under the immediate manual control of some responsible person over the age of eighteen years, PROVIDED, that additional restrictions may be placed on lights and illumination by rule or regulation adopted as pro- vided in Section 4 of this Ordinance Section 7 Unlawful Lights a Nuisance - Abate- ment Any light displayed contrary to the provisions of this Ordinance, or any violation of the rules and regulations pro- claimed, as provided in Section 4 of this Ordinance, constitutes a public nuisance, and the same may be summarily abated by any fireman, peace officer, or air raid warden Any house, store, building or other structure may be entered by a fireman, peace officer or air raid warden, using reasonable force, if neces- sary, for the purpose of abating such nuisance by the extinguish- ment or obscuration of such lights. Section 8 Regulation of Vehicles (a) Upon the sounding of the air raid warning, the driver of any motor vehicle, or other vehicle not upon fixed rails, shall imme- diately park said vehicle, out of any intersection, as close as possible to the nearest curb or as far as possible off the traveled portion of the highway, if there is no curb, and ex- tinguish all lights on or in said vehicle PROVIDED, that no such vehicle shall be parked nearer to a fire hydrant than is permitted by any existing law or ordi- nance, and PROVIDED, further, no such vehicle shall be parked in such a manner as to close a street or alley or unduly inter- fere with vehicular traffic -5- Unless otherwise ordered by a peace officer, fireman or air raid warden, all such parked vehicles shall remain so parked, with all lights extinguished, until the sounding of the "All Clear Signal " The provisions of this section shall not apply to the following (1) All army and navy vehicles , (2) All vehicles with United States Government creden- tials indicating the necessity of emergency movement, (3 ) All authorized emergency vehicles as defined by law or by ordinance (4) All vehicles of the personnel engaged in the opera- tion of aircraft warning service , while such personnel are actually going to or from their posts of duty ( 5) All vehicles certified by the Chief of Police as being essential to the preservation of the public peace and safety, including those necessary for the proper conduct of the purposes of this Ordinance , or which are engaged in the gathering or dissemination of news, or necessarily employed in the production or distribution of a newspaper, provided, however, that such vehicles conform to the uniform lighting regulations, adopted under the provisions of this Ordinance for Black-out emergency vehicles No certificate shall be issued which conflicts with any regulation or orderoof the United States Army applicable in the area for which the certi- ficate is issued (b) Upon the sound of the air raid warning, the operator of any street car shall immediately stop said car out of an intersection and extinguish all lights on or in said car Un- less otherwise ordered by a fireman, peace officer or air raid warden, such car shall remain so stopped with all lights extin- -6- guished, until the sounding of the "All Clear" signal Section 9 Unauthorized Interference with Pub- lic Forbidden It shall be unlawful for any person, other than a fireman, peace officer, air raid warden, or member of the armed forces of the United States of America, when acting under orders of a superior officer, to control or attempt to control traffic on the city streets, or to in any way molest or interfere with any other person during an Air Raid Period Section 10 Penalties Every person violating any provision of this Ordinance, or the provision of any rule or regulation adopted pursuant to Section 4 of this Ordinance shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding three hundred dol- lars MOO 00) , or by imprisonment in the City Jail for a term not to exceed ninety days, or by both such fine and imprison- ment Section 11. Severability It is the intention of the City Council that each separate provision of this Ordi- nance shall be deemed independent of all other provisions here- in, and it is further the intention of the City Council that if any provision of this Act be declared to be invalid, all other provisions thereof shall remain valid and enforceable Section 12 Emergency In the opinion of the City Council an emergency exists for the preservation of the public health, peace and safety and this Ordinance shall take effect upon its passage under and by virtue of the authority contained in Sections 6 and 7 or Article IV of the City Charter. -7- Introduced, read at length and adopted by the unanimous vote of all members of the City Council, at a regu- lar meeting of the City Council, held this 23rd day of October, A D 1942 2221Z 6 Mayor Attest City Clerk _g_ STATE OF COLORADO, ) ss. County of Larimer ) I, MILES F. HOUSE, City Clerk of the City of Fort Collins, do hereby certify and declare that the afore- said Ordinance, consisting of twelve Sections, was duly pro- posed and read at length at a regular meeting of the City Council, held on the 23rd day of October, A D 1942, and was duly adopted and ordered published in the Fort Collins Express- Courier, a daily newspaper and the official newspaper of the City of Fort Collins, by the unanimous vote of all members of the City Council, as an Emergency Ordinance , in accordance with the provisions of Sections 6 and 7 of Article IV of the City Charter, and thereafter and on to-wit the 27th day of October , A D 1942, said Ordinance No 6 was duly published in the Fort Collins Express-Courier, a daily newspaper published in the City of Fort Collins, Colorado IN WITNESS 'WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said City, this 27th day of October A D 1942 a/ City Clerk