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 provision of this code or 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 unintentional 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.
(1990 Code, sec. 2-183)