§ 3. Definitions. As used in this chapter:

1. "Volunteer firefighter" means an active volunteer member of a fire
company.

2. "Fire company" means:

a. A fire company of a county, city, town, village or fire district
fire department, whether or not any such company has been incorporated
under any general or special law,

b. A fire corporation incorporated under or subject to the provisions
of article ten of the membership corporations law, which is not included
within paragraph a above, if such corporation is by law under the
general control of, or recognized as a fire corporation by, the
governing board of a city, town, village or fire district, or

c. A fire corporation incorporated under, or established pursuant to
the provision of, any general or special law, which is not included
within paragraphs a and b above, if such corporation is by law under the
general control of, or recognized as a fire corporation by, the
governing board of a city, town, village or fire district or Indian
reservation. Any district corporation which has the general powers of
and operates as a fire district shall be considered as a fire district
for the purposes of this chapter. A "fire department" may be composed of
one or more fire companies.

3. "Line of duty" means the performance by a volunteer firefighter as
a volunteer firefighter of the duties and activities described in
subdivision one of section five of this chapter and the same such duties
and activities performed for a specialized team established pursuant to
the provisions of section two hundred nine-bb of the general municipal
law for which the volunteer firefighter does not receive any
remuneration or a gratuity and shall be deemed to include any date of
injury as determined by the workers' compensation board pursuant to the
provisions of section forty-one of this chapter. The following shall not
be deemed to be remuneration or a gratuity: receipt of a training
stipend as outlined in section two hundred-aa of the general municipal
law; reimbursement of expenses for meals, lodging and actual and
necessary travel; the receipt of a mileage allowance in lieu of travel
expense; reimbursement of expenses for registration and tuition fees
payable under section seventy-two-g of the general municipal law, and
the acceptance of transportation, food, drink, shelter, clothing and
similar items while on duty or engaged in such activities.

4. "Injury" includes any disablement of a volunteer firefighter that
results from services performed in line of duty and such disease or
infection as may naturally and unavoidably result from an injury.

5. "Child" includes a posthumous child, a child legally adopted prior
to the injury of the volunteer firefighter; and a step-child or
acknowledged child born out of wedlock dependent upon the deceased
volunteer firefighter.

6. "Surviving spouse" means the legal spouse of a deceased volunteer
firefighter, but shall not include a spouse who has abandoned the
deceased. The term "abandoned", as used in this subdivision, means such
an abandonment as would be sufficient under section two hundred of the
domestic relations law to sustain a judgment of separation on that
ground.

7. "Dependent" includes a surviving spouse entitled to receive
benefits under this chapter, whether or not actually dependent upon a
volunteer firefighter, unless a contrary meaning is clearly intended.

8. "Earning capacity", except as herein provided, means:

a. The ability of a volunteer firefighter to perform on a five-day or
six-day basis either the work usually and ordinarily performed by him or
her in his or her remunerated employment or other work which for any
such worker would be a reasonable substitute for the remunerated
employment in which he or she was employed at the time of his or her
injury, or

b. The ability of a volunteer firefighter to perform on a five-day or
six-day basis either the work usually and ordinarily performed by him or
her in the practice of his or her profession or in the conduct of his or
her trade or business, including farming, and from which he or she could
derive earned income or other work which for any such person would be a
reasonable substitute for the profession, trade or business in which he
or she was engaged at the time of his or her injury.

Every volunteer firefighter shall be considered to have earning
capacity and, if the provisions of paragraphs a and b above are not
applicable in any given case, the workers' compensation board, in the
interest of justice, shall determine the reasonable earning capacity of
the volunteer firefighter with due regard to the provisions of such
paragraphs and the work he or she reasonably could be expected to obtain
and for which he or she is qualified by age, education, training and
experience. The ability of a volunteer firefighter to perform the duties
of a volunteer firefighter, or to engage in activities incidental
thereto, may be considered in determining loss of earning capacity, but
the inability of a volunteer firefighter to perform such duties or to
engage in such activities shall not be a basis of determining loss of
earning capacity.

9. "State" includes all territory within the boundaries of the state
of New York, including territory which has been or may hereafter be
ceded to the federal government or to the United Nations and territory
within the boundaries of Indian reservations.

10. "Political subdivision" means a county, city, town, village or
fire district.

11. "State fund" means the state insurance fund provided for in
article six of the workmen's compensation law.

12. "County plan of self-insurance" means a county plan of
self-insurance under article five of the workmen's compensation law.

13. "Insurance carrier" means the state fund, the stock corporations,
mutual corporations or reciprocal insurers described in subdivision nine
of section thirty of this chapter, a county plan of self-insurance, or a
self-insuring political subdivision. For purposes of this chapter, a
nonprofit property/casualty insurance company which is licensed pursuant
to subsection (b) of section six thousand seven hundred four of the
insurance law shall be deemed a stock corporation and a nonprofit
property/casualty insurance company which is licensed as a reciprocal
insurer pursuant to subsection (c) of section six thousand seven hundred
four of the insurance law shall be deemed a reciprocal insurer.

14. "Emergency" includes the search for persons and the search for,
and attempts to recover or the recovery of, bodies of persons even
though it is possible or is known that all hope of life is gone.

15. "Fund raising activity" means a method of raising funds to
effectuate the lawful purposes of a fire company, but shall not include
any method prohibited by the state constitution or the penal statutes of
this state, public fireworks displays unless conducted in compliance
with section 405.00 of the penal law. Such term "fund raising activity"
shall not include drills, parades, inspections, reviews, competitive
tournaments, contests or public exhibitions, described in paragraphs e
and i of subdivision one of section five of this chapter, even though
prizes are awarded at such events. Such fund raising activity must
comply with all the requirements of section two hundred four-a of the
general municipal law.

16. "Minor" or "infant" means a person who has not attained the age of
eighteen years.

17. The "workers' compensation rating board" or the "New York workers'
compensation rating board" shall have the meaning set forth in section
two of the workers' compensation law.