N.Y. General Municipal Law Section 209-BB
Specialized teams

  • volunteer wilderness/inland search and rescue teams

1.

a. By resolution, after a public hearing the governing body of each county, city and town is authorized, respectively, to establish, maintain and supervise municipal-wide and inter-municipal specialized teams.

b.

Counties, cities and towns are authorized to appropriate and expend such sums as are deemed necessary to establish and maintain specialized teams pursuant to this section.

c.

Municipalities and organizations that insure volunteer firefighters, volunteer ambulance workers or municipal employees, as the term “employee” is defined under Public Officers Law § 18 (Defense and indemnification of officers and employees of public entities)section eighteen of the public officers law, may extend such insurance coverage to members of a specialized team by resolution.

d.

For the purposes of this section, “specialized teams” shall mean any emergency team or squad composed of volunteer firefighters, volunteer ambulance workers or municipal employees, who shall have attained the minimum level of training or experience to meet qualifying standards established by the office of fire prevention and control, and which is administered by the state, a county, city or town for the purposes of training for or responding to a man made or natural disaster by carrying out any activities which are within the relevant training and expertise of such municipal employees or are authorized pursuant to the volunteer firefighters’ benefit law or the volunteer ambulance workers’ benefit law but which are not normally provided by such entities.

2.

a. The governing body of each county, city, town and village is authorized, respectively, to contract for the assistance of a volunteer wilderness/inland search and rescue team for the purpose of locating and rescuing an individual or individuals.

b.

No municipality shall be liable for the injury, death or damage to a volunteer wilderness/inland search and rescue team or its members occurring during the performance of the activities authorized by this section. Such team and its members shall indemnify and hold harmless the municipality that contracted for assistance with such volunteer wilderness/inland search and rescue team pursuant to this section against any claim of liability for any injury, death or property damage that may occur as a result of an act of such team and its members, including, but not limited to, any indemnity paid, attorneys’ fees, costs and litigation expenses. The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply when the municipality has engaged in willful misconduct, gross negligence or recklessness.

c.

For purposes of this section, “volunteer wilderness/inland search and rescue team” or “team” shall mean an organization: whose members have obtained a minimum level of training or experience as may be established by the department of environmental conservation’s office of public protection; that is formed for the purpose of locating and rescuing, or recovering, a known individual or known individuals, in an unknown location, whose safety may be threatened by conditions related to the environment or other factors; that is incorporated under the laws of New York state; and that operates not for pecuniary profit or financial gain.

d.

For the purposes of this section, “volunteer wilderness/inland search and rescue team member” shall mean an active volunteer member of a volunteer search and rescue team who meets the minimum level of training or experience pursuant to paragraph c of this subdivision and is specified on a list regularly maintained by the volunteer wilderness/inland search and rescue team. Such list shall be provided to a requesting municipality. In addition, for purposes of this section, a volunteer wilderness/inland search and rescue team member shall be an independent contractor and shall not be considered an officer or employee of the contracting municipality.

3.

Whenever a law enforcement agency or other state agency is engaged in a search or rescue operation, any volunteer wilderness/inland search and rescue team involved in such operation shall be subject to the command and control of the law enforcement or other state agency conducting such operation.

Source: Section 209-BB — Specialized teams; volunteer wilderness/inland search and rescue teams, https://www.­nysenate.­gov/legislation/laws/GMU/209-BB (updated Sep. 22, 2014; accessed Oct. 26, 2024).

200
Defining qualifications of exempt volunteer firefighters 200‑A
Volunteer firefighters serving in more than one fire company or fire department 200‑AA
Training stipend for volunteer firefighters 200‑B
Leaves of absence for volunteer firefighters entering the armed forces of the United States prior to July first, nineteen hundred sixty-six 200‑C
Leaves of absence for volunteer firefighters entering the armed forces of the United States on or after July first, nineteen hundred sixt... 201
Rights and privileges of exempt volunteer firefighters 202
Certificate to be issued to exempt volunteer firefighter 202‑A
Recording certificates of exempt volunteer firefighter 203
List of exempt volunteer firefighters to be filed 204
Qualifications necessary to entitle to certain exemptions 204‑A
Raising of funds for fire company purposes 204‑B
Youth programs 204‑C
Plan for arson investigation 204‑D
Duties of the fire chief 204‑DD
Qualifications of a fire chief 204‑E
Unauthorized destruction of property 204‑F
Plan for hazardous materials incidents response 204‑G
Restrictions on the use of firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals 205
Payments to injured or representatives of deceased volunteer firefighters 205‑A
Additional right of action to certain injured or representatives of certain deceased firefighters 205‑B
Relief of volunteer firefighters engaged in the performance of duty as such firefighters from civil liability and liability of fire distr... 205‑C
Payments pending controversies where volunteer firefighters are killed or injured 205‑CC
Volunteer firefighter enhanced cancer disability benefits 205‑D
Relief from civil liability for acts or omissions by fire wardens in the city of New York 205‑E
Right of action to certain injured or representatives of certain deceased police officers 205‑F
Removal of civil liability barriers 205‑G
Defense and indemnification of volunteer firefighters 206
Certificate to police officers and firefighters 206‑A
Penalty for improper use of certificates 206‑B
Exemption of benefits payable under blanket accident insurance covering volunteer firefighters 207
Hospitalization of members of fire departments in certain cities 207‑A
Payment of salary, medical and hospital expenses of firefighters with injuries or illness incurred in performance of duties 207‑B
Additional retirement benefits for certain firefighters in cities 207‑C
Payment of salary, wages, medical and hospital expenses of police officers with injuries or illness incurred in the performance of duties 207‑D
Additional retirement benefits for certain police officers in cities and certain villages 207‑E
Minimum retirement benefits for police officers in cities and who are members of police pension or retirement systems maintained by such ... 207‑E*2
Minimum retirement benefits for firefighters in cities and who are members of fire department pension or retirement systems maintained by... 207‑F
Ordinary death benefits of members of fire department systems of cities 207‑G
Ordinary death benefits of members of police retirement systems 207‑H
Death benefits of members of certain fire department pension or retirement systems of cities 207‑H*2
Death benefits of members of certain police pension systems 207‑I
Temporary supplemental retirement allowances for certain police officers 207‑I*2
Supplemental retirement allowances of retired firefighters of cities 207‑II
Payment of supplemental retirement allowances of retired police officers and firefighters of certain cities 207‑J
Supplemental pension allowances of certain retired teachers of cities 207‑K
Disabilities of policemen and firemen in certain cities 207‑K*2
Disabilities of policemen and firemen in certain cities 207‑KK
Disabilities of firefighters in certain cities caused by cancer 207‑KKK
Disabilities of firefighters in certain cities caused by Parkinson’s Disease 207‑L
Temporary supplemental retirement allowances for certain police officers in towns and villages 207‑N
Performance of duty disability retirement 207‑O
Performance of duty disability retirement 207‑O*2
Disabilities of members of the uniformed force of correction departments in certain cities 207‑P
Performance of duty disability retirement 207‑Q
Firefighters 207‑Q*2
Disabilities of emergency medical technicians or advanced emergency medical technicians in certain cities 208
Members of police force to have one day rest in seven 208‑A
School guards 208‑B
Death benefits for beneficiaries of certain police officers and firefighters 208‑C
Death benefits for dependent fathers or dependent mothers of certain police officers and firefighters 208‑D
Extra work by members of certain police forces 208‑D*2
Compensation during disability 208‑D*3
Extra work by members of a police force in cities 208‑E
Extra work by members of certain police forces 208‑F
Special accidental death benefit 208‑G
Community activity by members of a police force 208‑H
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation training and retraining for police departments in cities having a population of one million or more 1 209
Outside service by local fire departments, companies, ambulance districts and airport crash-fire-rescue units 209‑A
Relations with other states and the dominion of Canada 209‑AA
Paid leave for disaster service volunteers 209‑AA*2
Appointment of private college campus security officers at independent non-profit colleges 209‑B
Emergency rescue and first aid squads 209‑BB
Specialized teams 209‑C
Fire police squads of fire departments and fire companies 209‑CC
Notification of presence of wild animals and dangerous dogs 209‑D
Contracts for outside service by volunteer fire departments and companies 209‑DD
Discovery of unlawful drug laboratory 209‑E
Fire mobilization and mutual aid plan 209‑EE
Adoption of a code of ethics and disclosure of interests by fire companies 209‑F
Outside service by local police forces 209‑FF
Provisions relating to certain accidental disability benefits 209‑FFF
Provisions relating to a membership date in the New York city police pension fund attributable to service in the titles of police cadet p... 209‑G
Liability for outside aid 209‑I
Emergency service by volunteer firefighters 209‑J
Mutual aid programs in counties 209‑L
Removal of volunteer officers and volunteer members of fire departments 209‑M
Outside service by local police 209‑P
Relay of fire and emergency calls 209‑Q
Permanent appointment of police officers 209‑R
Police protection 209‑S
Contracts between municipalities and fire districts for joint fire training centers 209‑T
Contracts for joint fire alarm systems 209‑U
Notification of presence of hazardous materials 209‑V
Employment of retired persons as special patrolmen for publicly owned property 209‑W
Permanent appointment of fire fighters 209‑X
Training of certain paid city firefighters promoted to a first-line supervisory position 209‑Y
Establishment of hazardous materials emergency response teams 209‑Z
Annual independent audits
Green check means up to date. Up to date

Accessed:
Oct. 26, 2024

Last modified:
Sep. 22, 2014

§ 209-BB’s source at nysenate​.gov

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