No Fire Department apparatus shall be taken beyond the corporate
limits of the City to assist of any fire or for any other purpose,
except by order of the mayor or Fire Chief or such other person as
they may designate, and subject to the restrictions and conditions
hereinafter set forth.
The Mayor or Fire Chief or such other person as they may designate
are authorized, in their discretion, to aid in the extinguishing of
fires in another City (or town), public institutions, corporation,
or other properties within a reasonable distance from the City or
on property immediately adjacent to the City in which there is a possibility
of fire spreading within the corporate limits, under the following
conditions:
A. A request from a City or incorporated town for assistance must come
only from the Mayor, Fire Chief or such other person as may be designated
by mutual agreement.
B. Calls may be responded to only by such apparatus which in the judgment
of the Mayor or Fire Chief or such other person as they may designate
can be safely sent without unduly impairing the fire protection within
the City, and when highways and weather conditions are favorable.
C. The City, incorporated town, public institution, corporation, or
individual requesting assistance must pay the charge for apparatus
and service hereinafter provided unless there exists a mutual aid
agreement.
D. The City, incorporated town, public institution, corporation or individual
must compensate the City for any loss or damage to such apparatus
while answering such call, and be responsible to the members of the
fire department of the City for any injuries suffered or incurred
by them while responding to such calls and while working at such fire,
unless otherwise covered by insurance.
STATE LAW REFERENCE
See A.C.A. § 14-53-101. For statute relating to
fire services outside corporate limits, see A.C.A. § 14-53-102.
Unless there exists a mutual aid agreement, every municipality,
institution, corporation or individual requesting and receiving service
of the Fire Department of the City, shall pay for such service and
the use of apparatus as follows:
Pumper: $50, within two miles of station; $5 additional for
each mile or fraction thereof.
Each person, City, firm or corporation receiving service of
the Fire Department, unless there exists a mutual aid agreement, shall
pay to the City for each fire driver a sum representing $3 per hour
or part thereof from the time the apparatus leaves the fire house
until it returns thereto, and as to each fireman helping at the fire,
a sum representing $3 per hour or part thereof, from the time he reports
until the time his service ends. The payments herein stipulated shall
be made to the City Treasurer within 15 days after demand.
The Mayor and Chief of the Fire Department, are hereby authorized
to enter into mutual aid agreements, with other municipalities, firms,
corporations or individuals, for the rendering of fire service, subject
to the following conditions:
A. That the parties with whom such mutual aid agreements are entered
into shall agree to indemnify the City against any or all loss, cost
and damage which it may suffer or sustain by reason of damage to any
apparatus arising from any cause whatsoever while such apparatus is
going to or from the scene of the fire or while at the scene of the
fire. The duty to indemnify shall be performed within 15 days after
demand.
B. As to each fire driver injured while driving to or from the fire,
or while at the scene of the fire, and as to each fireman helping
at the fire, injured between the time he reports to the foreman of
his company and the time his service ends, the person entering into
such mutual aid agreements shall pay within 15 days after demand to
the City a sum sufficient to cover the medical and hospital expenses
by such injured driver or fireman.
Money collected under the terms of § 1.28.03 of this
chapter shall be paid to the respective fire drivers and firemen as
to whom such collections were made, and in proportion to the amount
of time applicable to them respectively.