The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Subchapter
004
:
INVESTIGATION OF FIRES
(Cite as: 20 V.S.A. § 2831)
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§ 2831. Investigations
(a) The Fire Marshal and the Fire Marshal’s assistants are authorized to investigate the
cause, origin, and circumstances of every fire within the State that causes injury
to any person or that causes damage or loss of property in excess of $200.00. The
Fire Marshal and the Fire Marshal’s assistants shall make a special investigation
of any fire of suspicious origin. In any investigation carried out by the Fire Marshal,
the Fire Marshal shall cooperate with the local fire department.
(b) The chief of a volunteer or paid fire department or the chief’s designee and, in towns
lacking a fire department, the selectboard chair shall investigate the cause, origin,
and circumstances of every fire occurring in the jurisdiction that causes injury to
any person or that causes damage or loss of property in excess of $200.00. The chief
or the selectboard chair may make a special investigation as to whether a fire was
the result of carelessness or accident and shall make a special investigation of any
fire of suspicious origin. (Amended 1973, No. 137 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 393, eff. July 1, 2022.)