(a) An individual who becomes employed and is appointed as the head of a suppression fire department must be certified by the commission as Head of a Suppression Fire Department within one year of appointment. The requirements in this subchapter also apply to an individual who is appointed on an interim basis to head of a suppression fire department.
(b) Prior to being appointed as the head of a suppression fire department, an individual must:
  (1) hold a Texas Commission on Fire Protection certification as fire protection personnel in any discipline that has a commission approved curriculum that requires structural fire protection personnel certification. The individual must have five years of experience in a full-time fire suppression position or ten years in a part-time fire suppression position at the time of appointment, or attain the required years of experience within one year of the appointment; or
  (2) provide documentation of accreditation from the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress that is deemed equivalent to the commission's approved basic fire suppression curriculum, and provide documentation in the form of a sworn non-self-serving affidavit of five years of experience in a full-time fire suppression position in a jurisdiction other than Texas; or
  (3) provide documentation in the form of a sworn non-self-serving affidavit of ten years of experience as an employee of a local governmental entity in a full-time structural fire protection personnel position in a jurisdiction other than Texas; or
  (4) provide documentation in the form of a sworn non-self-serving affidavit of ten years of experience as an active volunteer fire fighter in one or more volunteer fire departments. The ten years of volunteer service must include documentation of attendance at 40% of the drills for each year and attendance of at least 25% of a department's emergencies in a calendar year while a member of a volunteer fire department or departments with ten or more active members that conducts a minimum of 48 hours of drills in a calendar year; or
  (5) document a combined total of five years of experience using:
    (A) full-time experience while holding a commission certification as referenced in paragraph (1) of this subsection; and
    (B) provide documentation in the form of a sworn non-self-serving affidavit of experience as an employee of a local governmental entity in a full-time structural fire protection position in a jurisdiction other than Texas as referenced in paragraph (3) of this subsection, with two years of affidavit time counted as one year of experience for purposes of this qualification; or
    (C) provide documentation in the form of a sworn non-self-serving affidavit of experience as an active volunteer fire fighter and meeting the attendance requirements referenced in paragraph (4) of this subsection, with two years of affidavit time counted as one year of experience; or
  (6) document a combined total of five years of experience using:
    (A) full-time experience while holding a commission certification as referenced in paragraph (1) of this subsection; and
    (B) documentation of accreditation from the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress that is deemed equivalent to the commission's approved basic fire suppression curriculum while appointed to a full-time fire suppression position in a jurisdiction other than Texas. Documentation of experience will be in the form of a sworn non-self-serving affidavit; or
  (7) document a combined total of five years of experience using:
    (A) documentation of accreditation from the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress that is deemed equivalent to the commission's approved basic fire suppression curriculum while appointed to a full-time fire suppression position in a jurisdiction other than Texas, with documentation of experience being in the form of a non-self-serving affidavit; and
    (B) provide documentation in the form of a sworn non-self-serving affidavit of experience as an employee of a local governmental entity in a full-time structural fire protection position in a jurisdiction other than Texas as referenced in paragraph (3) of this subsection, with two years of affidavit time counted as one year of experience for purposes of this qualification; or
    (C) provide documentation in the form of a sworn non-self-serving affidavit of experience as an active volunteer fire fighter and meeting the attendance requirements referenced in paragraph (4) of this subsection, with two years of affidavit time counted as one year of experience for purposes of this qualification; or
  (8) document a combined total of ten years of experience using:
    (A) documentation in the form of a sworn non-self-serving affidavit of experience as an employee of a local governmental entity in a full-time structural fire protection position in a jurisdiction other than Texas as referenced in paragraph (3) of this subsection; and
    (B) documentation in the form of a sworn non-self-serving affidavit of experience as an active volunteer fire fighter and meeting the attendance requirements referenced in paragraph (4) of this subsection.
(c) Holding the Head of a Fire Suppression Fire Department certification does not qualify an individual for any other certification. An individual who seeks certification in another discipline must meet the requirements for that discipline.
(d) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to supersede Chapter 143, Local Government Code, regarding appointment as the head of a suppression fire department.
(e) Individuals certified as the Head of a Suppression Fire Department must meet the continuing education requirement as provided for in Chapter 441 of this title (relating to Continuing Education).
(f) An individual certified as Head of a Suppression Fire Department under this subchapter may engage in fire fighting activities only as the head of a suppression fire department. These activities include incident command, direction of fire fighting activities or other emergency activities typically associated with fire fighting duties, i.e. rescue, confined space and hazardous materials response.

Source Note: The provisions of this §449.1 adopted to be effective February 26, 2015, 40 TexReg 831; amended to be effective November 18, 2018, 43 TexReg 7557; amended to be effective May 20, 2019, 44 TexReg 2464