Res 2018-57 Fire Mutual Aid Agreement (2)RESOLUTION NO. 2018 - 57
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT TO
PROVIDE FOR THE AUTOMATIC DISPATCH OF THE CLOSEST EMERGENCY
RESPONSE UNIT REGARDLESS OF JURISDICTIONAL BOUNDARIES
WHEREAS, the City of Fridley recognizes automatic aid to be a critical response to emergencies
regardless of jurisdictional boundaries.
WHEREAS, the City of Fridley Public Safety Department and the Ramsey County Fire Chief's
Association have agreed to enter into an agreement to provide automatic aid or "closest unit" for
portions of the City of New Brighton and Fridley for confirmed structure fires.
WHEREAS, Automatic aid allows the 911 dispatcher to "automatically" send prearranged
emergency equipment to the city in need.
WHEREAS, Ramsey County Dispatch would request an emergency response unit from Fridley
for any confirmed structure fire in the area designated in New Brighton.
WHEREAS, the City of Fridley would receive automatic aid from New Brighton for an
emergency response unit for any confirmed structure fire in the designated area in Fridley.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Fridley Public Safety Department enter into
an agreement with the Ramsey County Fire Chief's Association to allow for automatic aid
between the cities of New Brighton and Fridley in the event of a confirmed structure fire.
PASSED AND ADOPTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FRIDLEY THIS
13TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2018.
SCOTT J. LUND - MAYOR
ATTEST:
DEBRA A. SKOGEN - CITY CLERK
MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT TO PROVIDE FOR THE
AUTOMATIC DISPATCH OF THE CLOSEST EMERGENCY
RESPONSE UNIT REGARDLESS OF JURISDICTIONAL BOUNDARIES
This Mutual Aid Agreement ("Agreement") is made and entered into this day of
, 2016 by and among Cities of Fridley, Saint Paul, Roseville, Little
Canada Fire Department Inc., Maplewood, Falcon Heights, North Saint Paul, New Brighton,
White Bear Lake, and the Lake Johanna Fire Department Inc. (collectively the "Cities" or
"Parties" and individually the "City" or the "Party").
RECITALS
A. The Cities/Parties desire to enter into this Agreement to authorize their respective fire
departments to provide, and for the participating Cities/Parties to receive, automatic mutual
aid to dispatch the closest equipment and personnel to emergency events to provide
assistance in the form of fire, rescue, and related services;
B. The Cities/Parties are authorized under Minnesota Statutes, section 471.59 to cooperatively
exercise their commonly held powers and mutual aid agreements are critical to providing and
supporting emergency services;
C. The Cities/Parties determine that providing for the automatic dispatch of the closest
emergency unit as is authorized in this Agreement is in their best interests and they desire to
create an opportunity for other cities and towns to participate in this Agreement.
AGREEMENT
In exchange for the mutual promises made herein, the Parties hereby agree as follows:
DEFINITION OF TERMS
For the purposes of this Agreement, the terms defined in this section shall have the
meanings given them below.
"Agency" means the fire department, fire station, or fire unit called upon to provide
Assistance to an Emergency Event.
2. "Assistance" means the provision of fire personnel and equipment in response to an
Emergency Event.
"Dispatcher" means the person at the applicable public safety access point that
receives reports of Emergency Events and selects the appropriate Agency to respond
to and provide Assistance for the Emergency.
4. "Emergency" any request for fire department assistance.
5. "Emergency Events" means any Emergency incident in which an Agency may be
called upon by a Dispatcher to provide Assistance within the scope of the Agency's
service capabilities as determined by the respective member Cities and communicated
in writing to the Emergency Communications Center.
6. "President" means the president of the Ramsey County Fire Chiefs Association.
7. "Protection Area" means the area within the Cities of Fridley, Saint Paul, Roseville,
Little Canada, Maplewood, Falcon Heights, North Saint Paul, North Oaks,
Shoreview, Arden Hills, Lauderdale, New Brighton, and any additional city or town
that joins this Agreement as provided herein.
8. "Requesting Party" means a Party which requests assistance from another Party to
this Agreement and each such responding Party is considered a Sending Party.
9. "Sending Party" means a Party called upon to provide Assistance to another Party and
which actually provides Assistance to the Requesting Party.
10. "Specialized Activities" means the provision of non -emergency assistance including,
but not limited to, training of personnel and associated equipment and facilities.
II. AUTHORIZATION
Each of the Cities participating in this Agreement hereby authorize their respective fire
Agencies to respond to and receive automatic mutual aid services pursuant to the terms of
this Agreement and to otherwise take such actions as are needed to provide and receive
Assistance as provided herein.
III. TERM AND TERMINATION
This Agreement shall be effective as of the date first written above and shall be ongoing
until terminated as provided herein. Each City shall act by resolution to adopt this
Agreement and shall forward a fully executed copy of its resolution and a signed original
of this Agreement to the President of the Ramsey County Fire Chiefs Association.
Any Party may act by resolution to opt out of its participation in this Agreement. No
such resolution shall be effective until the Party provides at least 60 days' written notice
of termination to the President, the applicable County Emergency Communications
Center, and each of the other Parties. The resolution must indicate the date of withdrawal
from this Agreement, which must be sufficiently in the future to allow for the 60 day
notice. The notice shall include a fully executed copy of the termination resolution.
IV. AUTOMATIC MUTUAL AID PROCEDURE
1. Whenever a Party to this Agreement receives a call for Assistance for an Emergency
Event occurring within its jurisdictional boundaries, that call will automatically be
dispatched to the Agency having primary jurisdiction, as well as to any Agency for
which the Dispatcher or Computer Aided Dispatch System (CAD) determines may
provide a more timely response. The Sending Party shall respond to the call and
make necessary Assistance available without undue delay. The typical response from
the Sending Party shall be one apparatus and crew.
The extent of Assistance provided by the Sending Party shall be determined solely by
the Sending Party based on its established response criteria and procedures. In the
event a Sending Party determines it will not be able to provide Assistance, the fire
official for the Agency making that determination shall immediately notify the
Requesting Party.
2. The first arriving unit shall be in command of the emergency scene, until relieved by
the Requesting Party. The Sending Party's fire official shall retain direction and
control of the Sending Party's fire personnel and equipment on the scene.
Each Party, whether it be the Requesting Party or a Sending Party, shall be
responsible for injuries or death of its own personnel. Each Party shall maintain
workers' compensation insurance or self-insurance coverage covering its own
personnel while they are providing Assistance pursuant to this Agreement. Each
Party waives the right to sue the other Party for any workers compensation benefits
paid to its own employee or their dependents, even if the injuries were caused wholly
or partially by the negligence of the other Party or its officers, employees.
4. Each Party shall be responsible for damages to or loss of its own equipment. Each
Party waives the right to sue the other Party for any damages to or loss of its
equipment, even if the damages or losses were caused wholly or partially by the
negligence of the other Party or its officers, employees, or volunteers.
5. Specialized Activities of non -emergency nature may be requested and/or provided by
both parties to the Agreement. There is no obligation on the part of a Sending Party
to provide Specialized Activities.
6. No charge shall be made to either party for Assistance rendered under this Agreement
for incidents with duration under eight (8) hours. Provided, however, that in the
event the Requesting Party is reimbursed for said personnel, equipment, or any other
costs from a party or parties responsible for the Emergency, or is otherwise
reimbursed by a third party source, then reimbursement, on a pro -rata basis, shall be
made to the Sending Party for any equipment or personnel charges.
V. COOPERATIVE IMPLEMENTATION
The Parties agree to work in good faith through their respective Agencies to
cooperatively establish any specific response criteria or procedures as they may
determine are needed to implement this Agreement. Such criteria and procedures do not
necessarily need to be the same for each Party, but they shall not be contrary to the
primary purpose of this Agreement. Each Party shall be responsible for communicating
in writing its response criteria and procedures to each of the other Cities, the President,
and the applicable County Emergency Communications Center.
VI. LIABILITY AND INDEMNIFICATION
1. For the purposes of the Minnesota Municipal Tort Liability Act (Minnesota Statutes,
chapter 466), the employees and officers of the Sending Party are deemed to be
employees (as defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 466.01, subdivision 6) of the
Requesting Party. For all other purposes, all personnel remain the employees of their
respective Party during the performance of duties under this Agreement.
2. The Requesting Party agrees to defend and indemnify the Sending Party against any
claims brought or actions filed against the Sending Party or any officers, employees,
or volunteers of the Sending Party for injury to or death of any third person or
persons, or damage to the property of any third person or persons, arising out of the
provision of Assistance by the Sending Party under this Agreement.
Under no circumstances, however, shall a Party be required to pay on behalf of itself
and other Parties, any amounts in excess of the limits on liability established in
Minnesota Statutes, chapter 466 applicable to any one Party. As provided in
Minnesota Statutes, section 471.59, subdivision la, for the purposes of determining
total liability the Parties shall be considered a single governmental unit and the total
liability for the Parties shall not exceed the limits on governmental liability for a
single governmental unit as specified in Minnesota Statutes, section 466.04,
subdivision 1. Nothing in this Agreement shall be interpreted as any of the Parties
waiving any exemptions or limitations on liability available to them under law.
The intent of the indemnification requirement of this section is to impose on each
Requesting Party a limited duty to defend and indemnify any Sending Party for
claims arising within the Requesting Party's jurisdiction subject to the liability limits
under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 466. The purpose of creating this duty to defend
and indemnify is to simplify the defense of liability claims by eliminating conflicts
among defendants, and to permit liability claims against multiple defendants from a
single occurrence to the defended by a single attorney.
3. No Party to this Agreement, nor any officer of any Party, shall be liable to any other
Party or to any other person for failure of any Party to furnish Assistance to any other
Party, or for recalling Assistance.
VII. ADDING MEMBERS
Any other city/town/fire department corporation adjacent to the Protection Area may join
this Agreement upon the written consent of all of the existing Parties to this Agreement
that abut upon the boundaries of the joining Party, the adoption by the joining Party a
resolution authorizing execution of this Agreement, and the filing of a copy of the
executed resolution and this Agreement with the President. The Ramsey County Fire
Chiefs may impose reasonable conditions on the admission of additional cities and
establish procedures for removal of a Party for cause. The addition of a Party to this
Agreement as provided herein does not require an amendment to this Agreement. The
joining Party shall become subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement as of the
effective date of its participation in the sharing of services under this Agreement as
determined by the President.
VIII. MISCELLANEOUS
1. This Agreement may be amended by written agreement of the all of the Parties.
2. The Parties will execute this Agreement in any number of duplicate originals, each of
which constitutes an original, and all of which, collectively, constitute only one
Agreement. Each Party will deliver enough executed counterpart signature pages so
that all of the Parties will have a fully executed original of this Agreement. The
President will coordinate the delivery of the signature pages and compiling and
delivering originals of the Agreement to each of the Parties.
3. This Agreement is made under the law of the State of Minnesota.
4. This Agreement is entered into for the benefit of the Parties and is not intended to
provide any rights to any third parties.
5. This Agreement is not exclusive and is not intended to replace any other mutual aid
agreements any of the Parties may have in place.
IX. EXECUTION
Each Party has read, agreed to, and executed this Agreement on the date indicated below.
[signature pages follow]
CITY OF FRIDLEY
Adopted on the day of , 2016.
By By
Its Its