91-a. Arson investigation. 1. Every municipal corporation, the office of fire prevention and control, and any two or more municipal corporations jointly, are hereby authorized and empowered to investigate and to take such action as may be required to formulate task forces, teams, fire and/or police investigative units to investigate any case of a burn injury or wound sustained as reported pursuant to section 265.26 of the penal law, and to ascertain the cause of fires or explosions of suspicious origin within the municipality or participating municipalities, pursue necessary investigation thereof and assist in the preparation and prosecution of cases stemming from any alleged criminal activity attendant to such fires or explosions. In the case of a joint endeavor by two or more municipal corporations, the share of the costs to be borne by each such municipal corporation shall be fixed by contract. The expenditure of moneys for such purpose by a municipal corporation shall be deemed a lawful municipal purpose and the moneys appropriated for the purpose shall be raised by tax upon the taxable real property within the municipal corporation in the same manner as moneys for other lawful municipal purposes. Each municipal corporation is hereby authorized to accept and disburse grants of public or private money or other aid paid or made available by the state or federal government for such purpose or purposes.
2. Where an investigative unit formed by this section has investigated a fire and such fire is suspected to have been ignited by a cigarette and not caused by arson, the investigative unit shall forward to the office of fire prevention and control within fourteen days of completing the investigation into such fire information detailing, to the extent possible: (a) the specific brand and style of the cigarette suspected of having ignited such fire; (b) whether the cigarette package was marked as required by subdivision six of section one hundred fifty-six-c of the executive law; and (c) the location and manner in which such cigarette was purchased.
Last modified: February 3, 2019