Fire Service Act 1979

A person shall not – wilfully obstruct, hinder or interfere with a member of the Fire Service who is performing any function or exercising any power under this Act; or injure, damage, or interfere with, any building, materials, or appliances belonging to the Commission; except as may be provided by the General Fire Regulations, install, maintain or repair any fire protection equipment unless the person holds a permit issued in accordance with those regulations; remain on any land or in any premises where there is or has recently been a fire, after being order to quit the premises by an officer of the Fire Service or a police officer; retain possession of any property of the Commission after an officer of the Fire Service has requested the person to deliver up the property; cover up or close any fireplug so as to render its position difficult to locate, or injure any fireplug; obliterate or remove any mark used to indicate the position of any fireplug; tamper or interfere with any fire-alarm or other signalling apparatus; give an alarm of fire without believing there to be a fire; wilfully drive any vehicle over a fire hose; or wilfully drive any vehicle within such distance of the place of any fire or of any apparatus in use at any fire as may interfere with the operations of any brigade or the use of that apparatus. Fine not exceeding 26 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months.

A person who – is the owner or occupier of land and, on becoming aware of the existence of a fire on that land, fails to take reasonable measures to prevent the escape of the fire from that land; ignites, uses, or carries when ignited, so as to endanger another person's land or any Crown land, any flammable material; lights a fire, or causes a fire to be lit, in the open air, or leaves any such fire unextinguished, without taking such reasonable precautions as may be necessary or as may be prescribed, for preventing the spread of the fire; fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with an order, notice, direction, or requirement given under this Act by the Commission, the Chief Officer, an officer, a fire-fighter, a forest officer, a person employed in the responsible Department in relation to the Hydro-Electric Corporation Act 1995 or in the responsible Department in relation to the National Parks and Reserves Management Act 2002, or a police officer; during a fire permit period, lights a fire or causes a fire to be lit on land of which he is not the owner or occupier except with the authority of the owner or occupier of the land or, in the case of unoccupied Crown land during a fire permit period, except pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, a permit granted to him by a forest officer; during a fire permit period, causes any ignited material to be within 6 metres of – any ripened agricultural crop (whether standing, cut, or baled) or any stubble; any stack of, or building containing, hay, straw, chaff, flax, or grain, or other flammable material produced from the cutting or rooting up of an agricultural crop; any stack of cut or sawn timber; or any broadcast cut scrub, brush, or similar vegetation; during a fire permit period or on a day of total fire ban, drops, throws down, or leaves, in an open space, any match, tobacco, cigar, or cigarette that has at any time been alight without having first extinguished the match, tobacco, cigar, or cigarette; or destroys, damages, or interferes with any works executed or carried out by the Commission or a brigade under or for the purposes of this Act – is guilty of an offence against this Act.

For the purposes of subsection (2)(f) hay shall be regarded as an agricultural crop.

A person who commits an offence referred to in subsection (2) is liable, if the offence is committed – on a day of total fire ban, to a fine not exceeding 100 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months; or during a fire permit period, to a fine not exceeding 50 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months.

A person who is guilty of an offence against this Act for which no specific penalty is prescribed is liable to a fine not exceeding 26 penalty units.

Where a person is convicted of an offence against this Act, having at any time previously been convicted of the same offence, he is liable to a penalty that is double the penalty prescribed by this Act in relation to that offence.