Fire training and mutual aid programs

§ 225-a. Fire training and mutual aid programs. 1. In order to develop
and maintain programs for fire training, fire service-related activities
and mutual aid in cases of fire and other emergencies in which the
services of firefighters would be used and to cooperate with the office
of fire prevention and control in furthering such programs, the board of
supervisors of any county may create a county fire advisory board and
may establish the office of county fire coordinator.

2. A county fire advisory board shall consist of not less than five
nor more than twenty-one members, each of whom shall be appointed by the
board of supervisors for a term of not to exceed one year, two years or
three years. Such terms of office need not be the same for all members.
It shall be the duty of such board to cooperate with the office of fire
prevention and control in relation to such programs for fire training,
fire service-related activities and mutual aid; to act as an advisory
body to the board of supervisors and to the county fire coordinator, if
any, in connection with the county participation in such programs for
fire training, fire service-related activities and mutual aid and in
connection with the county establishment and maintenance of a county
fire training school and mutual aid programs in cases of fire and other
emergencies in which the services of firefighters would be used; to
perform such other duties as the board of supervisors may prescribe in
relation to fire training, fire service-related activities and mutual
aid in cases of fire and other emergencies in which the services of
firefighters would be used. The members of such board shall be county
officers, and shall serve without compensation.

3. If the office of county fire coordinator is created in any county,
the board of supervisors thereof shall appoint a county fire
coordinator. It shall be his or her duty to administer the county
programs for fire training and mutual aid in cases of fire and other
emergencies in which the services of firefighters would be used; to act
as a liaison officer between the board of supervisors and the county
fire advisory board and the fire fighting forces in the county and the
officers and governing boards or bodies thereof; and to perform such
other duties as the board of supervisors shall prescribe. The county
fire coordinator shall be a county officer and the amount of his or her
compensation, if any, shall be fixed by the board of supervisors.

4. A member of the board of supervisors, the county fire coordinator,
or a deputy county fire coordinator appointed pursuant to the provisions
of section four hundred one of this chapter, may be appointed as a
member of the county fire advisory board, but shall receive no
additional compensation for services performed as a member of such
advisory board.

5. Where, pursuant to section one hundred eighty-four of the town law,
a town has contracted with an incorporated fire company to furnish fire
protection within a fire protection district, the respective county may
acquire by gift or purchase suitable apparatus and appliances for use in
such district and in conjunction with the county mutual aid program and
may contract with said incorporated fire company for operation,
maintenance, and repair of same and for the furnishing of fire
protection in such district.