New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 19 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE › Chapter XII - Office Of Fire Prevention And Control › Part 425 - Payment To Municipalities For Firefighting Costs Incurred In Fighting Fires On Property Under The Jurisdiction Of The State Of New York › Section 425.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
As used in this Part:
(a) Normal operating expenses shall mean
				those costs, losses and expenses which are ordinarily associated with
				maintenance, administration and day-to-day operations of the fire department of
				a municipality. Such expenses shall include, but not be limited to, the
				ordinary wages of firefighters, administrative and other overhead costs,
				depreciation, the costs of litigation and the costs of employees' benefits,
				including insurance, disability, death or health care, whether or not such
				costs are incurred as the result of firefighting services rendered to property
				under the jurisdiction of the State of New York.
(b) Firefighting costs shall mean those
				reasonable expenses and losses which would not have been incurred had not the
				fire in question taken place. Such costs shall include, but not be limited to,
				salaries for specially employed personnel, costs of supplies expended, and the
				lesser of (1) the cost of repairing any destroyed or damaged equipment, or (2)
				the value of such equipment immediately preceding the fire. Firefighting costs
				shall not include: normal operating expenses as defined herein, overtime pay,
				any firefighting cost for which the municipality is reimbursed under a policy
				of insurance, or any costs associated with false alarms, regardless of cause.
				Costs, as defined herein, would normally be incurred after the first call or
				alarm and would normally cease upon the first of the following: return to
				station, report in service and ready for further operations, or commence
				response to another incident.
(c)
				Claim shall mean that amount which is equal to those firefighting costs
				incurred by a municipality to the extent that such costs exceed the sum of
				$250.
(d) Fire shall mean any
				instance of destructive and uncontrolled burning on property under the
				jurisdiction of the State of New York, including scorch burns and explosions of
				combustible dust or solids, flammable liquids and gases, and shall include
				burning of personal property as well as structures, whether publicly or
				privately owned.
(e) Municipality
				shall mean any county, city, village, town or fire district, having a fire
				department consisting of personnel, apparatus and equipment, which has as its
				purpose protecting property and maintaining the safety and welfare of the
				public from the dangers of fire, or, in the case of a fire protection district
				or that portion of a town outside a village or fire district, a fire company as
				defined in section 3 of the Volunteer Firemen's Benefit Law. The personnel of
				any such fire department may be paid employees or unpaid volunteers, or any
				combination thereof. A fire company of a city, village or fire district shall
				not be a "municipality" for the purposes of this Part.
(f) Property under the jurisdiction of the
				State of New York shall mean real property, and improvements thereon and
				appurtenances thereto, in which the State of New York holds legal fee simple
				title, and further, any real property conveyed or made available to the New
				York State Housing Finance Agency or the Dormitory Authority of the State of
				New York under agreements for the financing and construction of facilities for
				the State University of New York; provided, however, with the exception of
				property occupied by the State University of New York, such property shall not
				include leasehold interest; provided further, such property shall not include
				any property for which a municipality receives any payments in lieu of taxes or
				any other payments, including real property taxes, that are or may be used for
				providing fire protection to such property. Such payments shall include
				payments, from the State of New York or a public benefit corporation, received
				by a claimant municipality during such municipality's fiscal year in which the
				fire occurred, for the purpose of providing fire protection to such
				property.
(g) Secretary shall mean
				the Secretary of State or his designee.