In 1993 the New York State General Municipal Law, section 209 was changed, specifically the section dealing with mutual aid. Before this change in 1993, if you come across a situation in which you may be able to help, you could identify yourself to the officer in command and ask if you could assist in the matter. The most important issue was that by approaching it in this manner the, officer in command assumed responsibility and liability for your actions. This is not like the mutual aid system to which we are accustomed. Which the department being called to a mutual aid call is responsible for their own personnel.
The law changed in 1993 allowing a firefighter who "because of their residence or unusual occupation is regularly in the area..." to offer their services on an "on-going basis." So what exactly does that mean for the thousands of volunteer firefighters in this state? It means that you can contact the chief officer of a volunteer department in the village or city in which you work or live of which you are not a member of and offer your assistance in an "on-going basis" and not by incident. The 1993 amendments also gave the firefighters all rights, privileges and immunities of a regular member while "assisting such fire company or fire department at a fire or other emergency scene." This means that the firefighter in covered and carried by the new fire department while under their command, not of the firefighters host department. Insurance coverage was the center of this. The firefighters and all departments involved had to be covered in some way.
One problem did arise on this issue over time and was addressed this year. The 1993 law changes did not include training with the new department. When we go back and recognize the purpose of the law was to allow for coverage of these individuals, not being covered for training purposes was a real problem. Senator Ken LaValle (Suffolk County) and Rep. Paul Tokasz (Erie County) have successfully sponsored a bill, signed by Gov. George Pataki to address this training issue. This new bill added the phrase, "or for the purpose of training with such Fire Company or fire department."
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