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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-081T \WPDOCS\ORD\FIREAID ORD ORDINANCE NO % ' D AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT FOR MUTUAL AID IN FIRE PROTECTION AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF DENTON WITH THE CITY OF FORT WORTH RELATING TO SERVICES EACH CITY MAY PROVIDE THE OTHER DURING TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY EVENTS; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON HEREBY ORDAINS SECTION I That the City Manager is authorized to execute an agreement for mutual aid in fire protection and emergency medical services on behalf of the City of Denton with the City of Fort Worth relating to services each city may provide the other during Texas Motor Speedway Events, a copy of which agreement is attached hereto and incorporated herein SECTION II That the expenditure of funds as provided in the attached agreement is hereby authorized SECTION III. That this ordinance shall become effective immediately upon its passage and approval PASSED AND APPROVED this the day of Y4ult6 , 1997 JA,FK MILLER, MAYOR ATTEST: JENNIFER WALTERS, CITY SECRETARY BY: C APPROV D AS TO LEGAL FORM: HERBERT L PROUTY, CITY ATTORNEY BY : ,&1,4� Q �4 c j The State of Texas Counties of Tarrant and Denton Agreement for Mutual Aid in Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services This agreement is entered into tlus eday of AVby and betweep the CITY OF pa., 4&r\ TEXAS AND THE CITY OF �o�L[ j±t,, TEXAS, hereinafter referred to as "member cities " WITNESSETH WHEREAS, the governing officials of the member cities, political subdivisions of the State of Texas, desire to secure for each city the benefits of mutual aid in the protection of life and property from fire and in firefighting and emergency medical services, and WHEREAS, this agreement is entered into pursuant to Chapter 791 of the Texas Government Code, NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS AGREED AS FOLLOWS That upon request by the Fine Chief or lus/her designee or by the fire alarm operator of one member city to the fire department of the other member city, available firefighting equipment and personnel will be dispatched in aid of the requesting member city to any point within a reasonable distance of the city limits of the responding city, subject to the conditions hereinafter stated The Fire Chief of each member city shall designate what constitutes a reasonable travel distance outside the city limits of lus/her jurisdiction It is hereby declared and agreed that an emergency condition shall exist within the corporate limits of a requesting member city when one or more fires are in progress When such an emergency exists, upon request of the Fire Chief, or lus/her designee, or by the fire alum operator of a member city in winch the emergency condition exists (the "requesting city") to the fire department of another member city (the "responding city"), the Fire Chief or designee of the responding city may dispatch such firefighting equipment and personnel to the aid of the requesting city as he/she deems advisable subject to the conditions hereinafter set out Any dispatch of firefighting equipment and personnel pursuant to tins agreement is subject to the following conditions A. It is expressly understood and agreed that before responding in accordance with this Agreement that each Member City will have a City ordinance in effect before the effective date of this Agreement which sets out the standard of care for emergency action which substantially states the following "Every officer, agent or employee of the City and every officer, agent or employee of an authorized provider of emergency services, mcluding, 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 maction 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 City government, by passing this ordinance, to assure effective action in emergency situations by those entrusted with the responsibility of saving lives and property by protecting such government units from liability and their employees, agents and officers from nommentional tort liability to the fullest extent permitted by statutory and constitutional law, this ordinance shall be liberally construed to carry out the intent of City government " B. Any request for assistance under this agreement shall specify the amount and type(s) of firefighting equipment needed, the MAPSCO location, and the street address to which the equipment and personnel are to be dispatched One unit of firefighting apparatus, pumper (engine) or aerial (ladder), with a minimum of three personnel, or a brush truck or water supply vehicle with a muumum of two personnel will be the normal response to a request for mutual aid assistance to a member city, under the terms of tins agreement, however, the Fire Chief of the responding city or his/her designee may dispatch additional equipment and personnel Responding personnel must meet the muumum firefighting standards as established by their jurisdiction or by the Texas Commission on Fire Protection whichever is applicable State of Texas, Department of Health certified personnel meeting the standards established by the Texas Comnussion on Fine Protection (Emergency Care Attendants, Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics) may provide emergency medical services to the degree allowed by their certification Supervisory personnel, support equipment and personnel, or additional firefighting equipment and personnel may also be dispatched to the member city by direction of the Fire Chief of the responding member city or lus/her designee C The requesting city must have a command system in place and an incident commander in charge of the incident D The senior fire representative from the responding member city shall report to and be under the direction of the requesting member city Incident Commander, and will direct the utilization of his/her resources to assist in mitigating the emergency in accordance with accepted procedures E Firefighting equipment and personnel from the responding city shall be released by the Incident Commander as soon as they are no longer needed or when their services are needed within their normal fire protection area F In areas where common member city limit lines exist, accurate determination of jurisdiction may not be possible upon receipt of an alarm In these cases, the city receiving the alarm will dispatch its firefighting equipment and personnel and notify the other affected city of the alarm If the emergency is not within the city hmits of the responding member city, it is agreed that the services provided will be considered to have been provided pursuant to this agreement c7 Each city waives all claims against the other city for compensation for any loss, property damage, personal injury or death occurring as a consequence of the performance of this agreement Neither member city shall be reimbursed by the other for costs incurred pursuant to this agreement, with the exception of supplies and the consumable items Cl All equipment used by the responding fie department in carrying out this agreement will, at the time of action hereunder, be owned by it, and personnel who perform duties pursuant to this agreement shall receive the same payment, salary, pension, injury or death benefits, workers' compensation benefits, payment of expenses, and all other compensation and rights for the performance of those duties, as they would have received for their regular duties in the service of the city which they serve Each city shall be solely responsible for the payment of its costs associated with providing firefighting equipment and personnel under this agreement W] That pursuant to Chapter 791 of the Texas Government Code, each city agrees that the act of any person or persons while fighting fires, traveling to or from fires, or in any manner furnishing fire protection or emergency medical services to the citizens of the other city shall be considered as the act of the agent of the requesting city in all respects, notwithstanding such person or persons may be regular employees or firefighters of the responding city, and any liability relating to the furnishing of services is the responsibility of the requesting city 1.1 It is expressly understood that when an employee or volunteer of the responding city is performing duties under the terms of this agreement, that person is considered to be acting in the line of duty for the purposes of 42 U S C A , Section 3796, is considered to be in performance of duties within the provision of Article 6228f, V T C S , and Chapter 142, Texas Local Government Code, and shall be entitled to any other benefits which accrue under law as a result of injury, death, or loss which occurs while in the line of duty 7 It is further understood and agreed that, in the execution of this agreement and contract, neither member city waives, nor shall be deemed hereby to waive, any immunity or defense that would otherwise be available to it against claims ansing in the exercise of governmental powers and functions 0 Each city agrees that if legal action is brought under this agreement, exclusive venue shall he in Tarrant County, Texas r'. This agreement contains all commitments and agreements of the member cities regarding mutual fire protection and emergency medical service assistance, and no other prior oral or written commitments shall have any force of effect 10 In case one or more of the provisions contained in this agreement shall be for any reason held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect, such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability shall not affect any other provision, and this agreement shall be construed as if the invalid, illegal or unenforceable provision had never been contained in the agreement I Each member city may terminate this agreement upon thirty (30) days' written notice to the other member city Name 12 This agreement shall be effective on the LL+- day of 2 . � it i .I. I Approved as to form and legality 1 -411MNAW_� ' O rtool Attest i AAA04EB9 City of Name Title Approved as to form and legality City Attorney Attest City Secretary