Opinion ID: 2629737
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Mutual Aid Agreements

Text: Second, the estate argues that Hauber was acting pursuant to a mutual aid agreement, and therefore his right to sue was preserved despite any contrary statutory authority. Fire fighters injured while responding to calls outside their normal jurisdiction pursuant to a mutual aid agreement lose none of their regular privileges. RCW 38.52.080(1). We have carefully reviewed the purported mutual aid agreements and conclude that none applies to these facts. A mutual aid agreement is an arrangement for reciprocal emergency management aid and assistance between local emergency management organizations and public and private agencies in specific circumstances. Former RCW 38.52.090 [2] (providing that mutual aid and interlocal agreements will be in accordance with statutory requirements and actual agreements contracted between parties). The specific type of mutual aid promised must be addressed. Id; RCW 38.52.091; see also RCW 39.34.030 (requiring agreements between local governments to state the parties, duration, structure, purpose, financing, methods, and the assistance to be provided). The Legislature clearly intended for such agreements to be formal and specific. See also WAC 118-30-060 (detailing requirements for emergency management plans and mutual aid plans). Governmental entities may enter into different agreements to render aid to one another under specific circumstances. RCW 38.52.070. For example, many of the fire departments and cities in the Yakima Valley have entered into a formalized Emergency Medical Mutual Aid Agreement to provide emergency fire fighting, medical, and hazardous waste response assistance to one another. CP at 644-67. No search and rescue, water rescue, or diving activities are included in the agreement. Even if there had been, Yakima County Fire District No. 5 (the district in which the Roza incident took place and a signatory to the agreement) did not request mutual aid from Hauber's fire department; the county S & R dispatcher requested Hauber's participation in an emergency mission. Fire districts are independent governmental entities, and agreements between the fire departments do not bind the counties generally. [3] The estate argues that the Yakima Valley Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (YVCEMP) is a mutual aid agreement. We disagree. The YVCEMP pledges mutual assistance and coordinates responses to natural and man-made disasters between most governmental agencies in Yakima County in the case of acute overwhelming emergencies, such as nuclear war and volcanic eruption. In fact, the YVCEMP specifically references mutual aid plans and agreements among its signing members, undercutting the estate's argument that it is itself a mutual aid agreement. It states that the Emergency Services Council (an organizational unit created by the plan) shall review and recommend for adoption emergency services and mutual aid plans and agreements ... as are necessary to implement such plans and agreements. CP at 150. Mutual aid agreements, by contrast, are specific contracts between local emergency management organizations and public and private agencies agreeing to assist one another in specific circumstances. See former RCW 38.52.090(1) (providing that mutual aid will be in accordance with agreements and directing the development of a form contract). The type of mutual aid promised must be addressed. Id. Further, binding mutual aid agreements pledge reciprocal aid; the YVCEMP contains no promise for promise exchanges. See, e.g., Higgins v. Egbert, 28 Wash.2d 313, 317-18, 182 P.2d 58 (1947); accord former RCW 38.52.090, RCW 38.52.091; RCW 39.34.030. [4] There is no relevant mutual aid agreement. Rusty Hauber gave his life to save another. If police and fire fighters are to receive the same protections for their voluntary services as they receive for their normal duties, statutory reform or a formal mutual aid agreement is required. It may well be that law enforcement officers and fire fighters, because of the risks unique to their work, should be accorded this extra protection when responding to county S & R requests. But to provide such protection to Hauber, the S & R must have entered into formal mutual aid agreements with his employer. It did not. Because we find no mutual aid agreement existed, summary judgment was appropriate. We recognize that Hauber's battalion chief believed that Hauber was responding to a mutual aid call. Unfortunately, the chief's subjective belief is not enough to impose liability upon the county. The estate argues that the fire department log noted Hauber as out on a mutual aid call. This is likely due to a different usage of the term among the fire fighting professionals involved who apparently used mutual aid to refer to any request for assistance from outside their jurisdiction, rather than responses pursuant to a formalized mutual aid agreement. See CP at 42 (Dep. of Rocky Dean Willette). We therefore hold that Hauber was not responding pursuant to a mutual aid agreement. [5]