§ 170. Establishment and extension of fire, fire alarm and fire
protection districts. 1. The town board of any town or, if the proposed
district or extension includes territory in more than one town, the town
boards of each of the towns in which such proposed district or extension
is situated, acting jointly by a majority vote of the members of each of
such town boards, upon a written petition as hereinafter provided, may
establish or extend fire districts, fire alarm districts and fire
protection districts in said town or towns; provided, however, that any
such district or extension shall be outside of any incorporated village
or city, or existing fire, fire alarm or fire protection district. A
fire district shall not be extended pursuant to the provisions of this
subdivision except upon the consent in writing of a majority of the
commissioners of such fire district. Such consent shall be acknowledged
or proved in the same manner as a deed to be recorded.

2. Upon its own motion and without a petition, the town board of any
town or, if the district as proposed or proposed to be extended includes
territory in more than one town, the town boards of each of the towns
acting jointly by a majority vote of the members of each of such boards
may establish or extend fire districts or fire protection districts in
such town or towns outside of any incorporated village or city or
existing fire, fire alarm or fire protection district therein, after a
public hearing thereon. The notice of such hearing shall be published
and posted and such hearing shall be held in the manner provided in this
article for a hearing upon the establishment of a fire district or fire
protection district upon petition. After such hearing and upon the
evidence given thereat, the town board or boards shall determine by
resolution whether it be in the public interest to establish the
proposed fire district or fire protection district or extend the
existing fire district or fire protection district, as the case may be.
If it be determined that the establishment or extension of such district
be in the public interest, the town board or boards shall determine
whether all the property, property owners and interested persons within
the proposed district are benefited thereby and whether all property or
property owners benefited are included therein and such town board or
boards shall so alter the boundaries of the proposed district or
extension, so that all property and property owners and only such
property and property owners as are benefited shall be included within
its limits. In the event, however, that it is found that any property,
property owners or any interested persons not included in the district,
as originally proposed, will be benefited thereby, a further notice
shall be posted and published and another hearing held as provided
herein, unless all said additional property owners or interested persons
execute and file written consents to be included in such district or
extension. When the boundaries of such fire protection district or
extension shall have been finally determined, the town board or boards
shall adopt a resolution establishing or extending the district and
shall comply with the provisions of subdivision one of section one
hundred seventy-three of this chapter. When the boundaries of such fire
district or extension shall have been finally determined the town board
or boards shall adopt a resolution approving the establishment or
extension of the district, and shall comply with the provisions of
subdivisions two and four of section one hundred seventy-three of this
chapter, other than filing a certified copy of a petition as provided in
such subdivision two. A fire district shall not be extended pursuant to
the provisions of this subdivision except upon the consent in writing of
a majority of the commissioners of such fire district. Such consent
shall be acknowledged or proved in the same manner as a deed to be
recorded.

3. If a fire alarm district or fire protection district is proposed to
be established, or extended, and the district or extension will be
situated in whole or in part in any town which is wholly or partly
within the Adirondack park and has within the town boundaries state
lands subject to taxation assessed at more than thirty per centum of the
total taxable assessed valuation of the town as determined from the
assessment rolls of the town, as completed from time to time, the town
board or boards shall not adopt a resolution establishing or extending
any such fire alarm district or fire protection district unless the
state comptroller, on behalf of the state, previously has consented to
the establishment or extension of the district.

4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this section,
and subdivisions one and two of section one hundred seventy-one of this
chapter, if a fire district embraces an area outside a village and also
embraces more than fifty per centum of the area of such village, and if
the village was incorporated after the fire district was established,
the town board of the town in which such fire district and such village
are situated, after a public hearing and upon the petition of the
village board of such village and the board of fire commissioners of
such fire district, may adopt a resolution, subject to permissive
referendum, extending such fire district to include the portion of such
village which is not in such fire district. The notice of public hearing
shall be posted and published, and such hearing shall be held in the
manner provided in this article for a hearing upon the establishment or
extension of a fire district. The provisions of sections ninety and
ninety-one of this chapter shall apply in relation to such referendum
except that a petition filed pursuant to such section ninety-one only
need be signed by twenty-five qualified electors of the area of such
extension, or if there are not twenty-five electors, then by at least
fifty per centum of the qualified electors of such area. All of the
other provisions of this article not inconsistent herewith shall be
complied with in relation to any such extension.