Request By:
Mr. Preston Kennedy
Chairman, Board of Trustees
Reidland - Farley Fire District
P.O. Box 2300
Paducah, Kentucky 42001
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter raising questions concerning the furnishing of emergency medical services by firemen of a fire protection district. The fire district in question was organized and functions pursuant to the terms and provisions of KRS Chapter 75.
The district's fire department has several members who are certified Emergency Medical Technicians. These persons contend they should practice their E.M.T. skills when they, as firemen, are called to a fire. They also maintain that rendering first aid is a part of their duties as firemen.
It is your position that KRS Chapter 75 does not specifically authorize a fire protection district to offer E.M.T. services. You are also concerned about possible liability if such services are performed by firemen of the fire protection district. Recently a proposal was made that the fire district purchase compact radio transmitting and receiving sets (walkie-talkie sets) for use by E.M.T. trained firemen. You resisted purchasing such equipment because of the lack of specific authority to do so and because you do not want the fire protection district to hold itself out as offering E.M.T. services to the public. Questions were then raised as to the advisability of reorganizing the fire district as a fire and rescue unit.
Your specific questions to this office are as follows:
"1. Can a fire district offer EMT service and provide funds for EMTs needs?
2. If a district cannot, what is the procedure if there is a decision to reorganize into some other name so that it can offer EMT service?"
You are correct as to the lack of specific statutory authority for the board of trustees of a fire protection district to authorize its fire personnel to provide E.M.T. services, to expend district funds to train personnel in those techniques and to furnish equipment for such personnel to utilize. KRS 75.040 states in part that the board of trustees is authorized to establish and operate a fire department in the district. KRS 75.120 provides in part that the board of trustees shall control the fire department within its district and the property and equipment in that department. It shall also provide for the payment of salaries of the employes and for the payment of other expenses of the fire protection district.
However, the right of policemen and firemen to render emergency first aid is generally recognized. In
Nastasio v. Cinnamon, Missouri, 295 S.W.2d 117, (1956), the Court said:
"A fireman has been defined as one 'whose duty it is to extinguish fires and to protect property and life therefrom.'
Behr v. Soth, 170 Minn. 278, 280, 212 N.W. 461, 462. We think that general definition describes accurately the broad duties of a fireman according to the common knowledge of the public. . . ."
See also
City of Phoenix v. Yates, 69 Ariz. 68, 208 P.2d 1147, 1151 (1949).
In connection with rendering emergency first aid, whether it is administered on behalf of a fellow policeman or fireman or a civilian victim of a fire or some other disaster, problems sometimes arise when the victim's condition is such that it is beyond the level of the training and ability of the policeman or fireman to cope with that particular problem. The good intentions of untrained personnel sometimes only serve to aggravate rather than alleviate the victim's condition.
In an attempt to not only provide better emergency treatment but to also reduce the potential liability of those persons rendering emergency care or treatment, many firemen are being certified as Emergency Medical Technicians by the Kentucky Department for Human Resources. See KRS 211.960 to 211.968, the "Kentucky Emergency Medical Technician and Paramedic Certification Act of 1978." An E.M.T. program can be provided at a reasonable cost to the district and for further information we suggest you contact:
Mr. Thomas Thompson, Director of Training, E.M.S. Branch, Department for Human Resources, Bureau for Health Services, 275 East Main Street, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
If the fire district's firemen are only involved in the rendering of emergency first aid treatment and care, and not in the providing of an ambulance service, then the fire district is not subject to the provisions and requirements of KRS 216B.015 et seq. (Licensure and Regulation of Health Facilities and Services). This may be a factor in determining whether or not your organization gets involved in an ambulance and rescue service function.
As to the liability of a fire protection district organized pursuant to KRS Chapter 75, we direct your attention to OAG 78-494, copy enclosed, at pages three and four. Such a fire district is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth and as such would probably have the same sovereign immunity as is possessed by the state. However, the trustees of the district as well as the district's firemen may be held personally liable for any intentional wrongdoing or acts of negligence since the doctrine of sovereign immunity does not extend to the trustees and firemen on an individual basis.
KRS 411.148, the so-called "Good Samaritan Law, " purports to exempt from liability, a person certified as an Emergency Medical Technician, for administering emergency care or treatment at the scene of an emergency unless such acts constitute willful or wanton misconduct. However, in OAG 79-535, copy enclosed, we said that KRS 411.148 violates the Kentucky Constitution to the extent that it limits the liability of the persons named therein for death or physical injuries caused by negligent medical treatment.
In conclusion, although there is no specific statute authorizing the board of trustees of a fire protection district to expend district funds to train personnel in E.M.T. techniques and to furnish equipment for such personnel to utilize, the board may undertake such expenditures as protecting and saving lives and the rendering of emergency first aid are generally recognized functions of firemen. Those personnel rendering emergency first aid may be held personally liable for intentional wrongdoing or acts of negligence in connection therewith and, in our opinion, they probably cannot claim immunity under the provisions of the so-called "Good Samaritan Law. "