2023 New York Laws › VOL - Volunteer Firefighters' Benefit › Article 1 - Short Title; Purpose; Definitions; Miscellaneous › 3 - Definitions.

§ 3. Definitions. As used in this chapter:
1.  "Volunteer firefighter" means an active volunteer member of a fire
  company.
2. "Fire company" means:
a. A fire company of a county, city, town, village  or  fire  district
  fire  department,  whether or not any such company has been incorporated
  under any general or special law,
b. A fire corporation incorporated under or subject to the  provisions
  of article ten of the membership corporations law, which is not included
  within  paragraph  a  above,  if  such  corporation  is by law under the
  general control  of,  or  recognized  as  a  fire  corporation  by,  the
  governing board of a city, town, village or fire district, or
c.  A  fire corporation incorporated under, or established pursuant to
  the provision of, any general or special  law,  which  is  not  included
  within paragraphs a and b above, if such corporation is by law under the
  general  control  of,  or  recognized  as  a  fire  corporation  by, the
  governing board of a city, town, village  or  fire  district  or  Indian
  reservation.  Any  district  corporation which has the general powers of
  and operates as a fire district shall be considered as a  fire  district
  for the purposes of this chapter. A "fire department" may be composed of
  one or more fire companies.
3.  "Line of duty" means the performance by a volunteer firefighter as
  a volunteer firefighter  of  the  duties  and  activities  described  in
  subdivision one of section five of this chapter and the same such duties
  and  activities performed for a specialized team established pursuant to
  the provisions of section two hundred nine-bb of the  general  municipal
  law   for   which   the  volunteer  firefighter  does  not  receive  any
  remuneration or a gratuity and shall be deemed to include  any  date  of
  injury  as determined by the workers' compensation board pursuant to the
  provisions of section forty-one of this chapter. The following shall not
  be deemed to be remuneration  or  a  gratuity:  receipt  of  a  training
  stipend  as  outlined in section two hundred-aa of the general municipal
  law; reimbursement  of  expenses  for  meals,  lodging  and  actual  and
  necessary  travel;  the receipt of a mileage allowance in lieu of travel
  expense; reimbursement of expenses for  registration  and  tuition  fees
  payable  under  section  seventy-two-g of the general municipal law, and
  the acceptance of transportation, food,  drink,  shelter,  clothing  and
  similar items while on duty or engaged in such activities.
4.  "Injury"  includes any disablement of a volunteer firefighter that
  results from services performed in line of  duty  and  such  disease  or
  infection as may naturally and unavoidably result from an injury.
5.  "Child" includes a posthumous child, a child legally adopted prior
  to the  injury  of  the  volunteer  firefighter;  and  a  step-child  or
  acknowledged  child  born  out  of  wedlock  dependent upon the deceased
  volunteer firefighter.
6. "Surviving spouse" means the legal spouse of a  deceased  volunteer
  firefighter,  but  shall  not  include  a  spouse  who has abandoned the
  deceased. The term "abandoned", as used in this subdivision, means  such
  an  abandonment  as would be sufficient under section two hundred of the
  domestic relations law to sustain  a  judgment  of  separation  on  that
  ground.
7.  "Dependent"  includes  a  surviving  spouse  entitled  to  receive
  benefits under this chapter, whether or not actually  dependent  upon  a
  volunteer firefighter, unless a contrary meaning is clearly intended.
8. "Earning capacity", except as herein provided, means:
a.  The ability of a volunteer firefighter to perform on a five-day or
  six-day basis either the work usually and ordinarily performed by him or
  her in his or her remunerated employment or other  work  which  for  any

  such  worker  would  be  a  reasonable  substitute  for  the remunerated
  employment in which he or she was employed at the time  of  his  or  her
  injury, or
b.  The ability of a volunteer firefighter to perform on a five-day or
  six-day basis either the work usually and ordinarily performed by him or
  her in the practice of his or her profession or in the conduct of his or
  her trade or business, including farming, and from which he or she could
  derive earned income or other work which for any such person would be  a
  reasonable  substitute for the profession, trade or business in which he
  or she was engaged at the time of his or her injury.
Every volunteer  firefighter  shall  be  considered  to  have  earning
  capacity  and,  if  the  provisions  of paragraphs a and b above are not
  applicable in any given case, the workers' compensation  board,  in  the
  interest  of justice, shall determine the reasonable earning capacity of
  the volunteer firefighter with due regard  to  the  provisions  of  such
  paragraphs and the work he or she reasonably could be expected to obtain
  and  for  which  he  or she is qualified by age, education, training and
  experience. The ability of a volunteer firefighter to perform the duties
  of a volunteer  firefighter,  or  to  engage  in  activities  incidental
  thereto,  may be considered in determining loss of earning capacity, but
  the inability of a volunteer firefighter to perform such  duties  or  to
  engage  in  such  activities shall not be a basis of determining loss of
  earning capacity.
9. "State" includes all territory within the boundaries of  the  state
  of  New  York,  including  territory  which has been or may hereafter be
  ceded to the federal government or to the United Nations  and  territory
  within the boundaries of Indian reservations.
10.  "Political  subdivision"  means  a county, city, town, village or
  fire district.
11. "State fund" means  the  state  insurance  fund  provided  for  in
  article six of the workmen's compensation law.
12.   "County   plan   of  self-insurance"  means  a  county  plan  of
  self-insurance under article five of the workmen's compensation law.
13. "Insurance carrier" means the state fund, the stock  corporations,
  mutual corporations or reciprocal insurers described in subdivision nine
  of section thirty of this chapter, a county plan of self-insurance, or a
  self-insuring  political  subdivision.  For  purposes of this chapter, a
  nonprofit property/casualty insurance company which is licensed pursuant
  to subsection (b) of section six thousand  seven  hundred  four  of  the
  insurance  law  shall  be  deemed  a  stock  corporation and a nonprofit
  property/casualty insurance company which is licensed  as  a  reciprocal
  insurer pursuant to subsection (c) of section six thousand seven hundred
  four of the insurance law shall be deemed a reciprocal insurer.
14.  "Emergency"  includes  the search for persons and the search for,
  and attempts to recover or the  recovery  of,  bodies  of  persons  even
  though it is possible or is known that all hope of life is gone.
15.  "Fund  raising  activity"  means  a  method  of  raising funds to
  effectuate the lawful purposes of a fire company, but shall not  include
  any method prohibited by the state constitution or the penal statutes of
  this  state,  public  fireworks  displays unless conducted in compliance
  with section 405.00 of the penal law. Such term "fund raising  activity"
  shall  not  include  drills,  parades, inspections, reviews, competitive
  tournaments, contests or public exhibitions, described in  paragraphs  e
  and  i  of  subdivision one of section five of this chapter, even though
  prizes are awarded at such  events.  Such  fund  raising  activity  must
  comply  with  all  the requirements of section two hundred four-a of the
  general municipal law.
16. "Minor" or "infant" means a person who has not attained the age of
  eighteen years.
17. The "workers' compensation rating board" or the "New York workers'
  compensation  rating  board" shall have the meaning set forth in section
  two of the workers' compensation law.