Loading...
93-13 Mutual Fire Aid Agreement with City of Kodiak and Womens Bay Service Area Womens Bay Fire DepartmentC 93 /3 MUTUAL FIRE AID AGREEMENT This Agreement is made and entered into by and between the City of Kodiak, a municipal corporation of the State of Alaska ("the City") and Womens Bay Service Area of Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, which is also referred to as the Womens Bay Volunteer Fire Department ("Womens Bay"). RECITALS (a) The City and Womens Bay acknowledge the possibility that fires or other public emergencies may occur within their respective jurisdictions which could reach such proportions as to be impossible to control with their own local equipment, personnel, and resources and therefore find it appropriate that this Agreement be entered into for the mutual protection of life and property pursuant to AS 18.70.150-.160 (relating to the adoption of mutual fire aid agreements) and Article X, §13 of the Alaska Constitution (authorizing intergovernmental agreements for cooperative or joint administration of municipal functions or powers). (b) The City and Womens Bay are desirous of entering into this Mutual Fire Aid Agreement in order to memorialize their current understandings and expectations with regard to the furnishing of fire fighting, and emergency services outside the normal and regular area of service by each party. NOW, THEREFORE, for and in consideration of the mutual promises, covenants, terms and conditions herein contained the parties agree as follows: 1. Furnishing of Emergency Fire Fighting Assistance (a) Each party agrees to respond, to the extent it deems reasonably prudent and possible, to requests for assistance from the other and to fur- nish fire fighting and emergency fire fighting services, utilizing paid and volunteer fire fighters, and fire fighting apparatus and equipment owned and operated by each of the parties. The judgment as to whether or not it is reasonably prudent and possible to Mutual Fire Aid Agreement--City/Womens Bay Page 1 of 4 respond to a given request and, if so, to what extent and with what resources, shall rest exclusively with the party from whom such assistance is sought. Both parties hereby formally disavow any intention to create, through the execution of this or any other agree- ment or through any course of past or future conduct, a binding contractual right to require the other to respond, or to respond at a particular level of resources, to requests for assistance. (b) The term "request for assis- tance" shall mean a request for fire fighting or emergency aid made by the fire chief, or other personnel who have been authorized by the chief of the requesting fire department to make such a request. 2. Determination of Priority It is mutually understood and agreed that the dispatch of any per- sonnel or equipment in response to a request for assistance shall be subor- dinate to the needs and responsibilities of the responding fire department as determined by its fire chief and that his or her judgment as to the level of resources which should be withheld in order to respond to any actual or potential requests for assistance or public emergencies within the geo- graphical area regularly served by the responding party shall be conclusive. No violation of this Agreement shall be considered to have occurred if, for any reason, in the judgment of the re- sponding fire chief, a response to a request for assistance made by the other party to this Agreement might jeopardize the fire or other protection provided to the geographical area regularly served by the responding party. 3. Non -liability Without limiting the generality of the foregoing it is explicitly agreed that a party to this Agreement shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or claims which may result from a failure to respond to a request for assistance received from the other party, or from an alleged failure to respond in a prompt or timely manner. 4. Operational Control (a) Control of Fire Fighting Mutual Fire Aid Agi'eement--City/Womens Bay Page 2 of 4 The fire chief of the party requesting assistance, or his authorized representative, shall have the sole responsibility for conducting all fire fighting or emergency operations at the scene, however, such requesting fire chief may delegate management authority over all or any part of such operations to any responding fire chief as provided in (b) below. (b) Emergency Scene Manage- ment The requesting fire chief, or his authorized representative, may request that a responding fire chief, or his authorized representative, assume management authority over the control and direction of all or any part of the fire fighting operations at the fire or emergency; however, the requesting fire chief shall not, by relinquishing such control, be relieved of his overall control and responsibility for the operation. (c) Control of Personnel Notwithstanding any other pro- vision herein, the officers, fire fighters and other personnel of each fire fight- ing organization, both the responding or the requesting units, shall remain under the control and direction of their own fire chief or his authorized repre- sentative and shall not become the agent, employees, or representatives of any other party. (d) Right to Protect Personnel and Equipment Each fire chief, both responding and requesting, and their authorized representatives, shall have and retain the right to refuse to commit their personnel or equipment to any position which is considered unreasonably dangerous to the life of any of their personnel, another person, or to equip- ment. A fire chief, or his authorized representative, shall have the sole and exclusive right and discretion to deter- mine the extent and imminence of any such danger. 5. Costs and Expense Each party shall be responsible for all of its own costs or expense incurred in maintaining its equipment, insur- ance coverage, apparatus, paying salaries, and any and all other items of cost or expense associated with pro- viding services pursuant to this Agree- ment; provided, however, that expend- able fire fighting material used or expended by a responding party in its activities at the scene, such as fire fighting foam, shall be replaced by the party that issued the request for assistance if the responding party expending such materials serves a written claim therefore upon the requesting party not later than sixty (60) days after such materials were used or expended and, provided fur- ther, that nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as a waiver on the part of the City of the right to assess fees in accordance with City of Kodiak Resolution 92-18 or any other duly enacted resolution or ordinance. 6. Damage and Loss With the exception of replacement of expendable fire fighting material as provided above, any loss or damage to fire apparatus or other equipment of the responding party incurred or aris- ing out of activities in responding to a request for assistance pursuant to this Agreement, including any loss which may occur while the responding party is traveling to the scene, working at the scene, or returning therefrom, shall be the responsibility of, and shall be Mutual Fire Aid Agreement--City/Womens Bay Page 3 of 4 paid by, such party responding to the request for assistance. 7. Withdrawal Either party may withdraw from this Agreement at any time. 8. Immunities to Continue This Agreement is not intended to, and it shall not be construed to, waive, relinquish, alter, amend or vitiate in any manner whatsoever, the privileges or immunities otherwise provided by law to either of the parties hereto or to any of their officers, employees, volun- teers or other agents, whether in the course of responding to a request for assistance under this Agreement or otherwise. Each party and all such individuals shall have and retain all privileges and immunities otherwise applicable to the performance of the same or similar functions within the party's own area. 9. Not Employees or Agents Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to render or establish any officer, employee or volunteer of any one of the parties the agent, employee, representative or volunteer of any of the other parties and all such person- nel shall be and remain, for all pur- poses and at all times, the personnel of the party providing such personnel. 10. No Warranty By entering into this Agreement, or taking any action pursuant to it, neither party is making any represen- tation or warranty, whether express or implied, concerning the training or reliability of its personnel or that of the other party, or with respect to the safety, durability or reliability of its fire fighting apparatus or equipment or that of the other party. Each party expressly disclaims any such express or implied approval or warranty. 11. No Duty to Inhabitants or Third Parties This Agreement shall not be con- strued as creating or giving rise to any duties on the part either party toward the inhabitants of the geographical area regularly served by the other or to the owners of property within such area. The parties hereby disclaim any intention of creating third party beneficiaries to this Agreement. CITY OF KODIAK Recommended for Approval: ®Mike Dolph Fire Chief Dated:a�4�lq�l'� Approved: �z N ® Bloomquist City Maijager Dated: Attest: ®Marcella H. Dalke, CMC/AAE City Cle k Dated: Mutual Fire Aid Agreement_- ity/Womens Bay Page 4 of 4 12. Procedures The fire chiefs of the parties shall establish the manner and method of requesting assistance for fire or other emergency response under this Agree- ment. Each party shall develop and maintain a communication system which will facilitate the procedures agreed upon. 13. Effective Date This Agreement shall become effective immediately upon being approved by both the Kodiak City Council and the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly. WOMENS BAY SERVICE AREA Recommended for Approval: ®Dale Rice Fire Chief, Womens Bay Volun- teer Fire Department Dated: Nle �4t1�i93 Approved: ® Jer a Selby Borough Mayor Dated:_ 7_ Attest: ®Donna F. Smith Borou ) Clerk Dated: 13 ITEM NO. 12_D.3 Kodiak Island Borough AGENDA STATEMENT Meeting of: May 6, 1993 ITEM TITLE: Contract No. 93-13 APPROVAL OF MUTUAL AID AGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE CITY OF KODIAK, FIRE PROTECTION AREA NO. ONE, AND WOMENS BAY FIRE SERVICE DISTRICT. SUMMARY STATEMENT The Mutual Aid Agreements between the City of Kodiak, Fire Protection Area No. One, and Womens Bay Fire Service District have been discussed and recommended for approval by the Districts' Advisory Boards. We have sought these agreements for several years and are pleased to present the two agreements for Assembly approval. FISCAL NOTES [XI N/A Expenditure Amount Required Budgeted APPROVAL FOR AGENDA: Mayor RECOMMENDED ACTION: Move to approve the Mutual Aid Agreements between the City of Kodiak, Fire Protection Area No. One and Womens Bay Fire Service District.