No person shall be eligible for appointment or election as the fire chief, or any title or rank that includes the duties of the chief, in any fire department or fire company with six or more paid firefighters, unless he or she meets requirements as established by the most recently developed recommended best practices for incident commanders adopted by the New York state division of homeland security and emergency services, office of fire prevention and control. The state fire administrator shall promulgate rules and regulations based upon requirements established pursuant to the most recently developed recommended best practices for incident commanders. For the purpose of this section, the term firefighter shall mean a member of a fire department whose duties include fire service as defined in paragraph d of subdivision eleven of section three hundred two of the retirement and social security law and has been assigned by his or her department as an interior firefighter.
New York Legal Code