§ 205. Payments to injured or representatives of deceased volunteer
firefighters. 1. If an active member of a volunteer fire company in any
city, incorporated village or in any fire district of a town outside of
an incorporated village or in any part of a town protected by a
volunteer fire company incorporated under the provisions of the
membership corporations law, or if an active member of any duly
organized volunteer fire company, dies from injuries incurred while in
the performance of his or her duties as such firefighter or as a member
of a fire department emergency relief squad, a fire police squad or a
fire patrol within one year thereafter, the city, village, fire district
or town which is responsible as provided in subdivision four of this
section shall pay as follows:

a. If such volunteer firefighter is a member of a volunteer fire
company located in any city in which a pension fund is maintained, the
relatives of such volunteer firefighter shall be entitled to a pension
in the same manner and at the same rates as if he or she were a member
of the paid fire department of such city.

b. If in any other place the sum of three thousand dollars shall be
paid to the widow or widower of such deceased volunteer firefighter or
to the executor or administrator of his or her estate if he or she is
not survived by a widow or widower. In addition there shall be paid to
the widow or widower of such volunteer firefighter for the benefit of
such child or children the sum of twenty-five dollars a month for each
surviving child, including a posthumous child, of such deceased
firefighter under the age of eighteen years, but not more than a total
of fifty dollars a month for all such children, or if the decedent be
not survived by a widow or widower, or if he or she dies before the
payments cease, then such payments for a child or children shall be made
to their guardian or to relatives with whom they are living for their
benefit.

2. Any such volunteer firefighter who shall become permanently
incapacitated for performing the full duties of a volunteer firefighter
by reason of disease or disability caused or induced by actual
performance of the duties of his or her position, without fault or
misconduct on his or her part, shall

a. If a member of a volunteer fire company located in any city in
which a pension fund is maintained, be paid a pension in the same manner
and at the same rate as if he or she were a member of the paid fire
department of such city.

b. If a member of a volunteer fire company in any other place, be paid
one-half the amount which would have been payable in case of death to
his or her executor or administrator under the provisions of subdivision
one of this section;

Provided, however, that if such volunteer firefighter shall at the
expiration of the disability payments provided for in subdivision three
of this section be totally incapacitated to engage in any occupation for
remuneration or profit by reason of disease or disability caused by
actual performance of the duties of his or her position, without fault
or misconduct on his or her part, he or she shall be paid the sum of
fifteen dollars per week during the period thereafter that such total
incapacity shall continue and, in addition thereto, during such period
there shall be paid to him or her for the benefit of his or her child or
children the sum of twelve dollars fifty cents a month for each child
under the age of eighteen years, but not more than a total of
twenty-five dollars a month for all such children, but no payment on
account of a child shall continue after such child shall have attained
the age of eighteen years. In the event payments to a volunteer
firefighter and his or her children on account of total incapacity, as
heretofore in this subdivision provided, shall not have amounted to the
sum to which he or she would otherwise have been entitled on account of
permanent incapacity for performing the full duties of a volunteer
firefighter and he or she shall be found to have recovered to such
extent that he or she is no longer totally incapacitated but is still
permanently incapacitated for performing the full duties of a volunteer
firefighter, there shall be paid to him or her the difference between
the payments already made to him or her for his or her own account and
for the account of his or her children and the amount to which he or she
would be entitled under this subdivision on account of permanent
incapacity for performing the full duties of a volunteer firefighter.
The authorities having jurisdiction to audit the claim of any volunteer
firefighter claiming total disability benefits under this subdivision
shall have the right to cause such injured volunteer firefighter to be
examined from time to time at reasonable intervals by the municipal
health authorities or any physician appointed by them for that purpose
to determine whether total disability continues and, in case a volunteer
firefighter receiving total disability benefits hereunder shall refuse
to permit any such examination to be made, such authorities shall be
authorized to discontinue the payment of benefits to him or her until
such examination is allowed.

3. Any such volunteer firefighter who shall receive injuries while
performing his or her duties as such, while in the fire house, while
going to or returning from a fire by any means of travel,
transportation, or conveyance whatever, or while working at the fire or
answering a call or fire alarm or while officially engaged in testing or
inspecting the apparatus, or equipment, or while engaged as a member of
a fire department, or fire company, emergency relief squad or fire
police squad, or fire patrol or while attending a fire school, or while
instructing or being instructed in fire duties or while attending any
drill or parade or inspection in which his or her company or department
is engaged, or while engaged in emergency work not related to fire
extinguishment or prevention or going to or returning therefrom when
duly authorized to participate therein, so as to necessitate medical or
other lawful remedial treatment or prevent him or her from following his
or her usual vocation on account thereof, shall be reimbursed for such
sums as are actually and necessarily paid for medical or other lawful
remedial treatment, not exceeding five hundred dollars. He or she shall
also be compensated for the time he or she was actually and necessarily
prevented from following his or her vocation or for the time of his or
her disability on account of such injuries, at the rate of thirty-six
dollars per week not to exceed one thousand eight hundred dollars.

Notice of an injury or death for which benefits are payable under this
section shall be given to the municipal corporation or fire district
responsible for the payment thereof within thirty days after receiving
such injury, and also in case of the death of the volunteer firefighter
resulting from such injury within thirty days after such death. Such
notice may be given by any person claiming to be entitled to such
benefits or by someone in his or her behalf. The notice shall be in
writing, shall contain the name and address of the volunteer
firefighter, and state in ordinary language the time, place, nature and
cause of the injury and shall be signed by him or her or by a person on
his or her behalf or, in case of death, by any one or more of his or her
dependents, or by a person on their behalf. The notice shall be given to
the comptroller or chief financial officer of the city, the clerk of the
village, the secretary of the fire district, or the town clerk of the
town, as the case may be, by delivering it to such officer or by
registered letter properly addressed to such officer. The failure to
give notice of injury or notice of death shall be a bar to any claim
under this section. Failure to give notice of such injury or death
within such thirty day period may be excused by the county judge who
would have jurisdiction of a controversy under this section, upon
petition and notice in the manner provided in subdivision five of this
section, either upon the ground that for some sufficient reason the
notice had not been given, or that any member of a body in charge of, or
any officer of the fire department or fire company had knowledge within
such thirty day period, of the injuries or death, or that the municipal
corporation or fire district has not been prejudiced by a delay in
giving such notice.

Any such volunteer firefighter who shall receive injuries as aforesaid
shall, when certified by the chief or other executive officer of the
fire department or by the appropriate administrative officers under whom
he or she serves, be received by any public, private, or semi-private
hospital for care and treatment at the usual ward or semi-private
patient rates, including charges at the prevailing ward or semi-private
patient rates for necessary nursing, laboratory tests, x-ray
examinations and physical therapy, or, in case any such hospital has a
contract with the municipality served by such volunteer firefighter,
then at the rates specified in such contract.

Within two years after receiving the injury, or if death results
therefrom within two years after such death, a claim for the benefits
under this section shall be filed with the same officer to whom a notice
of an injury must be given, as aforesaid. The claim shall be in
substantially the same form and shall give substantially the same
information as is required to be given in a claim under the provisions
of section twenty-eight of the workers' compensation law.
Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, any such claim need not
be sworn to, verified or acknowledged.

Payments of weekly benefits under this section shall commence within
fifteen days after the filing of such claim, and payments of lump sum,
and monthly, death benefits under this section shall be made or
commenced within thirty days after such filing. In the event of a
failure to make such payments within any such period or to continue the
same for the time required therefor, a controversy shall be presumed to
have arisen and a proceeding may thereupon be instituted pursuant to
subdivision five of this section to compel such payment.

4. In cities any benefit under this section shall be a city charge and
any claim therefor shall be audited and paid in the same manner as other
city charges, except that no part of the moneys payable under this
section shall be paid from the pension funds of the said departments
therein. In villages any such benefit shall be a village charge and any
claim therefor shall be audited and paid in the same manner as other
village charges, and shall be assessed upon the property liable to
taxation in said village, and levied and collected in the same manner as
village taxes. In fire districts any such benefit shall be a fire
district charge and any claim therefor shall be audited and paid in the
same manner as other fire district charges, and shall be assessed upon
the property in such fire districts liable to taxation, and levied and
collected in the same manner as fire district taxes. If such firefighter
was a member of a town fire company or fire department or a member of a
fire company incorporated under the membership corporations law, located
outside of a city, village or fire district, any such benefit shall be a
town charge and any claim therefor shall be audited and paid in the same
manner as town charges and shall be assessed upon the property liable to
taxation in the territory protected by such fire company and levied and
collected in the same manner as town charges therein. If such
firefighter was a member of a fire company or fire department operating
in, or maintained jointly by two or more villages, or two or more towns,
or two or more fire districts, any such benefit shall be a charge
against the village, town or fire district, in which the fire occurred.
If such injury occur while assistance is being rendered to a neighboring
city, town, village, fire district, fire protection district (including
a fire protection district served by the company or department of which
such firefighter is a member), fire alarm district, or territory outside
any such district upon the call of such city, town, village, fire
district, fire protection district, fire alarm district, or territory
outside any such district, or while going to or returning from the place
from whence such call came, or death shall result from any such injury,
any such benefit shall be a charge against such neighboring city, town,
village, fire district, fire protection district, fire alarm district,
or territory outside any such district, so issuing the call for
assistance and after audit shall be paid and assessed upon the property
liable to taxation in such neighboring city, town, village, fire
district, fire protection district, fire alarm district, or territory
outside any such district, and levied and collected in the same manner
as other charges against the same are levied and collected.

Any city, village, fire district or town may finance the payment of
any benefits payable under the provisions of this section by the
issuance of serial bonds or capital notes pursuant to the local finance
law unless it is required by some other law to pay such benefits from
current funds.

Any such city, village, fire district or the town board acting for and
on behalf of any fire protection district, fire alarm district or
territory outside any such district, may contract for insurance
indemnifying against the liability imposed by this section, provided
further that such contract of insurance shall also indemnify against the
liability imposed by the workers' compensation law in relation to
injuries or death of volunteer firefighter, and the cost of such
insurance shall be paid and provided in the same manner as benefits are
required to be paid and provided in this section.

If any claim under this section is one for which an insurance company
might be liable, or if it is a claim for which a mutual self-insurance
plan under subdivision three-a of section fifty of the workers'
compensation law might be liable, the officer to whom a notice of injury
is required to be delivered or mailed and with whom a claim is required
to be filed under the provisions of this section shall send a copy of
any such notice or claim and a copy of any notice of a proceeding
relating to an injury or claim to such insurance company or plan, as the
case may be, promptly after receiving the same.

Any money paid to an executor or administrator under any of the
provisions of this section shall be distributed in the manner provided
by law for the distribution of personal property, and all money paid
under this section shall be exempt from any process for the collection
of debts either against the volunteer firefighter or any beneficiary to
whom the same is paid under the provisions of this section.

No release from the liability imposed by this section shall be valid
if it shall appear that the person executing such release has not
received the full amount to which he or she is entitled under the
provisions of this section.

The words "injury" and "injuries", as used in this section, include
any disablement of a volunteer firefighter as the direct result of the
performance of his or her duties.

If for the purpose of obtaining any benefit or payment under the
provisions of this section, or for the purpose of influencing any
determination regarding any benefit or payment under the provisions of
this section, either for himself or herself or for any other person, any
person willfully makes a false statement or representation, he or she
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

The provisions of this section relating to giving notice of injury and
filing claim, and to the contents of any such notice or claim, shall be
construed liberally in order to effectuate the objects and purposes of
this section.

5. Any controversy arising at any time under the provisions of this
section shall be determined by the county judge of any county in which
the city, village, fire district, or town, which would be responsible
for payments under this section, is located. For that purpose, any party
may present a petition to such county judge, setting forth the facts and
rights which are claimed. A copy of such petition and notice of the time
and place when the same will be presented shall be served on all persons
interested therein, at least eight days prior to such presentation.

6. The provisions of this section shall not apply to volunteer
firefighters killed or injured on or after the first day of March,
nineteen hundred fifty-seven, or who die from the effects of injuries
received on or after such date.