Every officer, agent or employee of the city, and every officer,
agent or employee of an authorized provider of emergency services,
including, but not limited to every unit of government or subdivision
thereof, while responding to emergency calls or reacting to emergency
situations, regardless of whether any declaration of emergency has
been declared or proclaimed by a unit of government or subdivision
thereof, is hereby authorized to act or not to act in such a manner
to effectively deal with the emergency. An action or inaction is “effective”
if it in any way contributes or can reasonably be thought by the provider
of such emergency service to contribute to preserving any lives or
property. This section shall prevail over every other ordinance of
the city and, to the extent to which the city has the authority to
so authorize, over any other law establishing a standard of care in
conflict with this section. Neither the city nor the employee, agent,
or officer thereof, or other unit of government or subdivision thereof
or its employees, agents or officers shall be liable for failure to
use ordinary care in such emergency. It is the intent of the city
council, by passing this article, to assure effective action in emergency
situations by those entrusted with the responsibility of saving lives
and property by protecting such governmental units from liability,
and their employees, agents, and officers from non-intentional tort
liability to the fullest extent permitted by statutory and constitutional
law. This section shall be liberally construed to carry out the intent
of the city council.
(Ordinance 1220, § 1, 10-10-96)
