§ 68-102-145 — Sheriffs and highway patrol officers to prevent spread of forest fires - Punishment for refusing aid

(a) It is the duty of various county sheriffs and the state highway patrol officers to use all effective methods in their power to prevent the spread of forest fires. Whenever the various sheriffs or any member of the state highway patrol becomes aware of the fact that there is a forest fire in the vicinity, the officer shall summon a sufficient number of the male citizens of the county in which the fire is burning, who are between eighteen (18) and thirty (30) years of age, to control the fire, and the officer shall be in complete charge and direction of the efforts to restrain the fire until duly relieved by division of forestry personnel. (b) Any person who, after being duly summoned by the officer to aid in the suppression of the fire, willfully refuses to act in the premises commits a Class C misdemeanor.

Legislative History

Acts 1939, ch. 213, § 2; C. Supp. 1950, § 10902.2; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 53-2444; Acts 1986, ch. 651, § 1; 1989, ch. 591, § 113; T.C.A., § 68-17-145.