The fire service is under attack in New York State and most volunteer firemen don’t even know the problems exist! Siler & Ingber, LLP is here to explain not only the problem facing the fire service today, but the solution and how the rank and file firemen help.
For decades, both volunteer firemen and fire districts have been immune from general negligence suits. A fire district had been given protection from negligence suits in order to protect the tax payers from having to fund frivolous suits. All of this is now changing. Fire districts across Long Island are now faced with the prospect of being held responsible for a variety of accidents, including automobile accidents involving district owned vehicles. Volunteer firemen may be next, as their immunity is also in jeopardy.
The problem here is very simple. If a fire district is held in simple negligence for an accident involving district owned property, that means that the insurance premiums for the fire districts will increase dramatically. As you all know, the total budget of each fire district is never easy to increase and each dollar that is spent on insurance premiums is a dollar that is taken away from the general fund. Would you prefer to have money to spend on new equipment, new vehicles and training or would you rather it go towards an insurance company? The answer is simple, and we must all now act together to combat this problem.
The solution is that the fire service must band together, and sign petitions which will be forwarded onto our local legislatures and local state senators. We must demand that Albany respond to this attack on the fire service by changing General Municipal Law §205-b. This is the statute that is being used to hold fire districts responsible for accidents as they have never been held before. You can help: please sign a petition in your firehouse, and speak about this issue in your local community.
For more information, please contact Jeffrey Siler, Esq.
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